"I want to be the best at everything I do" - Reinier de Ridder's competitiveness knows no bounds

Reinier de Ridder loves to win. Since beginning his martial arts journey at the age of five, he has won at different levels of competition. In his professional MMA career, he remains undefeated in 14 fights.

While it’s easy to think that he accomplished these feats because he’s just that good at fighting, 'The Dutch Knight' explains that he approaches everything with the same competitive drive.

In a recent interview with Sherdog.com, he revealed that his competitive spirit never allows him to lose at anything:

“I want to beat everyone. If it’s a game of ping pong, I want to beat everybody. If it’s a game of chess, I played a game of chess last week, it’s crazy but just playing chess with my friends gets my juices flowing. I get pumped, I get a full focus and there’s no way I’m losing. And the same thing goes for fighting. It doesn’t matter who’s across the cage, nobody's beating me.”

At ONE: Full Circle, Reinier de Ridder’s flawless record and ONE middleweight world title will be challenged by welterweight king Kiamrian Abbasov.

However, the 31-year-old downplays the stakes that have been put in this match as he is only focused on one thing:

“To be honest, all this stuff doesn’t really matter to me. The belts don’t matter to me. The money, to be honest, doesn’t really matter to me either. It’s just that I want to be the best at everything I do.”

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Reinier de Ridder is looking to finish Kiamrian Abbasov quickly

Reinier de Ridder had no doubt in his mind that he would win against Kiamrian Abbasov even before they were scheduled to meet. He remains adamant that the outcome of their match is inevitable:

“I see myself pushing the tempo from the start, putting him under pressure, pushing him back, hitting him with some good shots, taking him down, controlling him on the floor, and finding his neck in the first round.”

While he maintains that he has the utmost respect for Abbasov as a fighter, 'The Dutch Knight' believes that he is just the superior athlete. Fans may seem to think otherwise, but all the predictions and speculations will be cast aside once the two fighters are locked inside the Circle.

Reinier de Ridder is 5-0 in his ONE Championship career, having made his debut in the promotion in January 2019. After three years with Asia's premier MMA organization, 'The Dutch Knight' already holds the middleweight and light heavyweight belts.