"I'll choke that one within two rounds" - Reinier de Ridder doesn't think Jiri Prochazka is the man to beat him

Reinier de Ridder doesn’t believe there are a lot of fighters alive right now who can put an L on his record, and that includes newly-crowned UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prozchazka.

On Instagram, de Ridder posted a photo of himself together with Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi challenging fans to post a name that could possibly defeat either of them in a match.

In the caption, he said:

"Tag your favorite fighter and tell me your b******* reasons."

A fan brought up that Prozchazka had recently secured a submission victory. The Czech martial artist defeated Glover Teixeira for the title at UFC 275 with a fifth-round rear-naked choke. However, Reinier de Ridder was not impressed and even took a dig at Prozchazka’s choice of hairstyle. His translated reply reads:

“I would choke that one in 2 rounds with his antennae.”

‘The Dutch Knight’ also shot down two other suggestions for fighters who are competing in other promotions.

He said UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira is too small for him, which is fair. De Ridder’s lightest world title is at middleweight, which is two divisions heavier for Oliveira. Meanwhile, he didn’t take the suggestion that UFC lightweight Paddy Pimblett is a serious threat and took a shot at the British fighter.

“Paddy the influencer?”

De Ridder has a strong argument, considering his career resume. The 31-year-old is undefeated through 15 professional MMA bouts with 13 stoppages and currently reigns atop ONE Championship's middleweight and light heavyweight divisions.

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Reinier de Ridder looks to notch another win at ONE 159

Reinier de Ridder is looking to add another win to his long list of conquests at ONE Championship’s next event. The two-division world champion will defend the ONE middleweight world title against Vitaly Bigdash at ONE 159 on July 22.

Bigdash held the division’s top prize back in 2015 but lost a second world title defense to Aung La N Sang in 2017. After losing via TKO against Leandro Ataides in 2018, the Russian had to take a long road back to world title contention.

He collected back-to-back submission victories after that and challenged Aung La to settle their trilogy that has been five years in the making. In February, Bigdash had his hand raised in victory and immediately called out de Ridder for the middleweight crown.

De Ridder is not intimidated by the challenge though and even clapped back at Bigdash to make sure he makes weight first. There will be less words and more action at ONE 159 when the fighters step into the circle.