“Give me one every month” - Reinier de Ridder wants to dominate opponents as often as possible

ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world champion Reinier de Ridder will be defending his 225-pound strap in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 5 on December 3. Across the circle from him will be the hard-hitting ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly 'Sladkiy' Malykhin.

The bout will be the fourth for 'The Dutch Knight' this year, which is a rarity in world champions these days. Reinier de Ridder opened the year by absolutely dominating former ONE welterweight world champion Kiamrian Abbasov in a champion vs. champion match at ONE: Full Circle. Just a few weeks later, De Ridder participated in a submission grappling match against one of the greatest grapplers ever, Andre Galvao, at ONE X.

After defending his middleweight throne and pushing a Brazilian jiu-jitsu icon to the limit, De Ridder once again put his 205-pound strap on the line against former ONE middleweight world champion Vitaly Bigdash. Reinier de Ridder made short work as he put the Russian to sleep inside one round.

In his final and perhaps most difficult task this year, the Dutch grappling specialist will have to nullify the power and grappling defense of Anatoly Malykhin. In an interview with SCMP MMA, De Ridder spoke about his high activity rate as a champion:

"Well, if they happened like they have happened thus far, then give me one every month then. I’m only joking, I would head back home and keep going. But like realistically, like four a year would be great. Every three months."

Fighting every three months is rare even for non-world champions. A world champion like De Ridder, however, is a cut above the rest. His insistence on fighting the very best as often as he's allowed to is a sign that he's one of the best world champions in the sport today.

Watch his full interview here:

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Reinier de Ridder plans to stop Anatoly Malykhin at ONE on Prime Video 5

Since he's fighting a naturally bigger opponent, there's been talk of whether or not Reinier de Ridder's opponent, Anatoly Malykhin, would make weight. The Dutch world champion, however, doesn't concern himself too much with this. He believes the outcome will be the same, regardless of how much Malykhin weighs on the scale:

“That’s not something I put any energy in. It’s not something I dirty my mind with. I don’t care. Whatever weight he shows up, I’ll finish him regardless. It’s the same thing with his friend [Vitaly] Bigdash. He struggled to make weight and I think he missed like six times before finally making the weight.”

The confidence in Reinier de Ridder is both staggering and frightening. Listening to him talk, you know he's not making it all up in his head. He absolutely knows he will win and would bet his life on it 100%. We believe that to be on top of the mountain and stay there, you have to have a near-insane belief in yourself, just like 'The Dutch Knight'.