Reinier de Ridder looks forward to more ‘dangerous’ MMA after submission grappling detour

ONE middleweight world champion Reinier de Ridder is due for a return to mixed martial arts after making a quick detour in submission grappling.

‘The Dutch Knight’ suffered the first setback of his career in December, dropping a first-round knockout loss to reigning two-division world titleholder Anatoly Malykhin at ONE on Prime Video 5. Looking for a change of pace, de Ridder opted to take a submission grappling match rather than jumping right back into MMA.

In May, Reinier de Ridder competed in his second submission grappling match under the ONE banner, squaring off with 20-year-old BJJ prodigy Tye Ruotolo.

After 10 minutes of action that was mainly contested on their feet, Ruotolo was awarded the victory via unanimous decision. It was another unfortunate setback for de Ridder, but the quick excursion seems to have reignited his desire to create some violence inside the circle:

“I'm really looking forward to throwing some elbows, throwing some knees. Make it a bit more interesting and a bit more dangerous,” de Ridder told the South China Morning Post.

Watch the full interview below:

Prior to his loss against the Russian juggernaut last year, Reinier de Ridder scored 16 straight wins in his MMA career, including back-to-back wins over Aung La N Sang, capturing the ONE middleweight and light heavyweight titles. Though he surrendered the light heavyweight crown to Anatoly Malykhin, he still has a firm grasp on the middleweight strap and he has no intentions of letting it go anytime soon.

As for who ‘The Dutch Knight’ could find himself squaring off with in his next outing, a rematch with Malykhin could be on the docket after ‘Sladkiy’ called for a rematch with de Ridder following his second-round destruction of Arjan Bhullar at ONE Friday Fights 22.

Another possibility is a trilogy bout with Aung La N Sang. While ‘The Burmese Python’ has dropped back-to-back bouts to de Ridder, his three-fight win streak has catapulted him back into the middleweight title picture. There’s also Shamil Erdogan, who impressed in his promotional debut at ONE Friday Fights 22.

Who would you like to see Reinier de Ridder fight in his next MMA outing?