Reinier de Ridder namedrops welterweight star as potential contender for middleweight gold

ONE middleweight world champion Reinier de Ridder has proven himself to be absolutely dominant in the weight class.

While he may have tasted defeat in his last MMA bout, suffering a tough knockout loss to Anatoly Malykhin that saw him lose his status as a double champion, de Ridder has still got the middleweight division gold tightly in his grasp.

After returning to competition at ONE Fight Night 10 in Broomfield, Colorado, with a submission grappling contest against Tye Ruotolo, ‘The Dutch Knight’ is now setting his fights on a title defense.

Whilst he was able to take both the light heavyweight and middleweight world championships from Aung La N Sang in their consecutive fights, the latter division is where he has done his best work.

With five wins under his belt, including two title defenses against Kiamrian Abbasov and Vitaly Bigdash, de Ridder spoke about where his next challenge may come from in an interview with the South China Morning Post on YouTube:

“There are a lot of middleweights out there. If you keep an eye on the local scene, there are a lot of middleweights coming up. So there are challenges out there. Or maybe a welterweight coming up like Murad Ramazaov.”

Watch the full interview below:

Undefeated Russian Murad Ramazanov has produced three consecutive victories in the welterweight division to take his overall record to 11-0.

The grappling specialist hasn’t fought since ONE on Prime Video 5 at the end of 2022, where his fight with Roberto Soldic ended in a no contest due to an accidental groin strike.

Having cleared out a lot of the middleweight contenders, some fresh blood may be the most likely challenge for Reiner de Ridder.