Two-division champion Reinier de Ridder gets lean for ONE 159 Vitaly Bigdash clash with "vegan diet"

If you follow Reinier de Ridder on social media, you have likely seen countless video clips and images of the Breda, Netherlands native getting ready for his upcoming world title defense against Russian juggernaut Vitaly Bigdash at ONE 159.

‘The Dutch Knight’ has certainly been hard at work in the gym, but that's not the only way he's been preparing physically.

In a recent Instagram post, the two-division world champ shared an image of himself slimmed down thanks to a quote-unquote ‘vegan diet’ he adopted ahead of his impending world title clash on July 22.

When in fact, de Ridder is seen biting down on a rib of some sort.

“This #vegan diet got me in great shape. Thank you #plants ❤️”

In addition, de Ridder has taken some other additional measures ahead of his upcoming title defense.

‘The Dutch Knight’ spent some time training with fellow ONE Championship superstar Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida during a recent trip to the United States. The champ had the opportunity to roll with the 17-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion.

On that, he told ONE:

“It was a big honor. I came there, I arrived a little late, but they finally let me in. I stepped on the mat and ‘Buchecha’ was training with someone else. But he said ‘let’s train together.’ So we got in an hour and a half of straight training. [We did] a lot of rounds. It was a very good session, a grueling session. It was cool to train with a guy who I’ve looked up to for a while and measure myself in his skillset.”

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Reinier de Ridder gunning for three-division glory

Assuming ‘The Dutch Knight’ Reinier de Ridder gets past Vitaly Bigdash in the main event of ONE 159 on July 22, the Breda native plans to shift his focus to claiming an unprecedented third world title.

It is extremely rare in MMA to win a belt in three divisions, yet alone to hold all three belts at the same time. Nevertheless, that’s what de Ridder has a chance of doing in ONE Championship. In fact, no one has ever been able to do it in a major promotion.

If de Ridder beats Bigdash, ‘The Dutch Knight’ will set his sights on the ONE heavyweight world title.

Reigning ONE heavyweight world champion Arjan ‘Singh’ Bhullar and ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin are on a collision course, and it appears ONE is trying to book a world title unification in the soonest order.

Reinier de Ridder will no doubt target the undisputed heavyweight king, no matter who wears the crown by the end of the year.