Reinier de Ridder promises to submit Tye Ruotolo at ONE Fight Night 9

Reigning ONE middleweight and former light heavyweight world champion Reinier de Ridder is out to prove that he is one of, if not the greatest, grappling specialists in MMA. He will do so by locking horns with the youngest IBJJF black belt world champion and one of the most dangerous BJJ artists today, Tye Ruotolo.

The pair will tangle in the featured bout at ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5th at 1stBank Center in Colorado. The event will mark ONE Championship's first-ever on-ground live show on US soil. The event will also mark Reinier de Ridder's "redemption tour" in an effort to get back to winning ways after losing his light heavyweight belt to Anatoly Malykhin late last year.

'The Dutch Knight' will start his journey back to the top by challenging a BJJ specialist in his own game: submission grappling. Ahead of the bout, De Ridder posted on his Instagram, promising a win via submission:

"3 weeks out. This might be away from comfort zone but I am fully committed to this match. I have left no stone unturned, trained like a madman and spent time away from my family. Make no mistake this is the start of the rest of my career. I’m strangling this dude."

The obvious size disparity only made the match all the more interesting as Reinier de Ridder mostly fights at a weight class more than 30 pounds above Tye Ruotolo. The young BJJ blackbelt, however, has proven in the past that he can handle and beat much larger men in submission grappling matches.

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Reinier de Ridder is pushing himself to extremes in preparation for ONE Fight Night 10

'The Dutch Knight' is definitely leaving no stone unturned as he chose to train with larger men in preparation for the May 5 bout. He posted it on his Instagram:

Reinier de Ridder is training in good company as Gordon Ryan (second from left) and Nicholas Meregali (far right) are two of the best big men in jiu-jitsu today. Ryan is considered by many to be the greatest No-Gi grappler of all time, while Meregali is a three-time IBJJF world champion and ADCC Absolutes silver medalist. He was also the last man to defeat Tye Ruotolo.

Fans in North America can catch ONE Fight Night 10 in US primetime, live and for free on Prime Video with an Amazon subscription.