“Pushed me to get even better in grappling” - Missed submissions forced Reinier de Ridder to improve grappling

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Double-world champion Reinier de Ridder [Credit: ONE Championship]
Double-world champion Reinier de Ridder [Image credit: ONE Championship]

Not so often does Reinier de Ridder get disappointed with his performances, but when he does, you can bet he won’t make the same mistakes twice.

The two-division world champion recently opened up about the one fight in his career that drove him back to the drawing board to perfect his craft.

Back in April 2021, De Ridder was summoned on six days’ notice to fight Aung La N Sang in a rematch for the ONE light heavyweight gold. Compared to their first world title matchup in 2020, which saw De Ridder submit ‘The Burmese Python’ in quick fashion, the Dutchman failed to submit Aung La in their rematch.

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Despite scoring his second belt with a dominant decision, failing to find the submission weighed on his mind. As a result, it motivated him to level up his grappling even more.

In a recent appearance on Morning Kombat, the 32-year-old sensation recalled the experience and said:

“It really pushed me to get even better in grappling. Because now after that, I really focused on some of the chokes that I missed, especially on the side choke, the head-and-arm triangle, which I was a bit sloppy with in the second Aung fight. Fortunately I was able to get Abbasov with it twice.”

Watch the full interview below:

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Reinier De Ridder has gotten to a point in his MMA career where it’s become nearly impossible to defeat him in his own game. Fortunately for the Dutchman, there’s another challenger on the horizon who believes he can put a stop to De Ridder’s 16-0 win streak.


Reinier de Ridder promises to make Malykhin matchup “a dirty fight”

Reinier de Ridder is thrilled to defend his light heavyweight belt against ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin at ONE on Prime Video 5.

Although he is expected to fight Malykhin for the heavyweight world title, the Dutchman doesn’t seem to fret about defending his belt again.

Coming off a massive victory against Malykhin’s Tiger Muay Thai teammate Vitaly Bigdash last July, De Ridder believes he’ll get the finish in a similar fashion.

He told the South China Morning Post (SCMP):

“I’m going to pressure him, I’m going to get close, I’m going to make this a dirty fight. The win will be there: me pressing him down, me stalking him, and finally taking him down on his back.”

Watch the full interview with SCMP below:

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Edited by Dave
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