Reinier de Ridder says Anatoly Malykhin’s improved striking was ‘the most surprising thing’

Since tasting defeat for the first time in his career, Reinier de Ridder is yet to return to MMA.

The ONE middleweight world champion is planning his comeback, looking around at the contenders in his division to find his next challenge.

At ONE on Prime Video 5 in December last year, ‘The Dutch Knight’ bit off more than he could chew by defending his light heavyweight title against then-interim heavyweight champion Anatoly Malykhin.

After de Ridder was unable to get the fight to the floor to implement his grappling game that saw him become a double champion, he was forced to stand with the undefeated Russian tank.

Losing via first-round knockout, Malykhin unleashed devastating combinations that quickly sent de Ridder crashing to the canvas, continuing his ruthless run that recently saw him defeat Arjan Bhullar to unify the heavyweight world championships.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, the Dutchman reflected on the fight and the lessons he learned from losing for the first time.

On top of that, Reinier de Ridder revealed that one aspect of his opponents game caught him off guard as Malykhin demonstrated much improved striking than he was expecting:

“The most surprising thing in our fight was, before we fought the only thing he threw was like wild looping right hands right? Only overhand. So what surprised me is, when we fought, he threw shots straight through the middle, down the barrel.”

Watch the full interview below:

Thanks to his work at Tiger Muay Thai, double champion Malykhin has become a precise striker, as proven in his wins over de Ridder and Bhullar, during which he kept his composure at all times and picked his shots carefully.