ONE Championship news roundup (April 24, 2023)

ONE Championship news roundup (April 24, 2023)

Welcome to today's edition of the daily Sportskeeda ONE Championship News Roundup, where we present the promotion's most important stories.

Today’s issue talks about Aung La N Sang’s case for a world title shot, Tye Ruotolo’s respect for Reinier de Ridder, and Demetrious Johnson’s impending retirement.

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#3. Aung La N Sang understands why Reinier de Ridder is uninterested in a trilogy

Aung La N Sang is on a hot streak of back-to-back first-round knockouts, and he’s knocking on the door of another world title opportunity. However, the guy on the other side of the door, ONE middleweight world champion Reinier de Ridder, is not exactly excited to open it for ‘The Burmese Python’.

In an interview earlier this year, De Ridder said he has nothing left to prove against Aung La so a trilogy match is not something that he’s eager to be a part of. Talking to The MMA Superfan, Aung La made it known that he took no offense to De Ridder’s opinion and even agreed to it, especially if he put himself in the shoes of ‘The Dutch Knight’, who beat him twice already.

Aung La N Sang said:

“Of course not. Why would you? But it’s all up to ONE Championship. I still might be the most dominant middleweight world champion at the moment, you know? I have the most world title defenses.”

Watch the interview below:

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#2. Tye Ruotolo thinks highly of Reinier de Ridder

Tye Ruotolo may have called out Reinier de Ridder for a submission grappling showdown, but that doesn’t mean he is disrespecting ‘The Dutch Knight’. On the contrary, the young grappling phenom thinks highly of his rival.

In an interview with The MMA Superfan, Tye Ruotolo made it known that he is aware of who he called out to a submission grappling match. He said:

“He’s a super decorated MMA fighter and a double champ. I got a lot of respect for his MMA [skills] and even his jiu-jitsu.”

Watch the interview below:

Reinier de Ridder surged through his MMA career on the back of his grappling prowess, collecting 16 consecutive wins before running into the freight train that is Anatoly Malykhin. He will look to prove his ground expertise when he figures in his second submission grappling bout at ONE Fight Night 10.

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#1. Demetrious Johnson hints at retirement on Liam Harrison’s podcast

ONE flyweight world champion Demetrious Johnson is still at the top of his game after close to two decades in the sport, but believes he will hang up his gloves soon.

Fighting has been a huge part of Johnson’s career, which has helped him become a global superstar and grow a family. As he nears the end of his fighting journey, ‘Mighty Mouse’ revealed he would like to spend more time away from the gym to be with his family and other interests.

Speaking to fellow fighter Liam Harrison in his Kickin’ It with Liam Harrison podcast, Demetrious Johnson hinted that he is nearing his retirement.

Johnson said:

“I’ve been in this game for a very long time and I’ve been working on other avenues of life. We’ll see, you know I’m 36 years old, I’ll be 37 after this fight, and you know I’mma just take it day by day. I feel Father Time’s pulling me away from fighting, my kids are competing in jiu-jitsu now, my daughter’s getting older, I love being around the wife, and I love creating content on the YouTube channel, and just other businesses. We’ll see what happens.”

Watch the interview below: