Reinier de Ridder shares a potential timeline for his career

ONE middleweight world champion Reinier de Ridder believes he still has a lot to achieve as a professional fighter, but understands that his career has to end at some point.

‘The Dutch Knight’ will make his first appearance in the Circle this year at ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5th. He will compete in his second submission grappling match in the promotion, taking on Tye Ruotolo in a middleweight contest.

The former two-division world champion has an already glowing career resume, including winning 16 straight bouts before getting stopped by Anatoly Malykhin in his last fight. Speaking to The MMA Superfan to promote his match, Reinier de Ridder said he is still not done writing his story in combat sports:

“There’s a lot to achieve. I’m relatively young, I still got a lot of years to go. There’s a lot still on my mind, but on the full front is this year. The most important things are coming up.”

However, the 32-year-old understands that his career will not last forever. Asked if he could possibly still be competing 10 years from now, Reinier de Ridder said:

“Forty-two is too much, man. That’s too old. Maybe five or six more years.”

Watch the interview below:

Reinier de Ridder will start his comeback trail against Tye Ruotolo on May 5th. While they will be competing in submission grappling rules instead of MMA, the ONE middleweight world champion wants nothing more than to get back into the win column again after his devastating loss last December.

It won’t be easy against a grappling phenom. Tye Ruotolo has been competing in BJJ for as long as he knows how to walk. Together with his twin brother Kade, the Ruotolos have carried over their success in the sport since making their ONE Championship debut last year.

All the action from ONE Fight Night 10 will be broadcast live and for free on Prime Video for Amazon subscribers across North America.