Reinier de Ridder Plans to Finish Vitaly Bigdash in One 159 Headliner

Reinier de Ridder is arguably the most dominant titleholder in One Championship at the moment. De Ridder (15-0, 6-0 One) is at the top of the food chain in two weight classes, middleweight and light heavyweight, which in One come at 205 pounds and 225 pounds, respectively. “The Dutch Knight” has captured both titles after defeating longtime rival Aung La N Sang on two different occasions. Since then, he defended his middleweight championship once, and is ready to attempt his first light heavyweight title defense as he takes on former middleweight kingpin Vitaly Bigdash in the One 159 headliner. His next opponent has had some issues with making weight in the past as he failed to hit the contracted weight in his latest appearance at “One: Full Circle” in February. Still, de Ridder isn’t concerned that Bigdash might miss weight for their fight.

“I don't really care. We'll see what happens if he miss his weight. It's fine. If he makes weight, it's all also fine. Does not matter to me. He can be 10 pounds heavier, 20 pounds heavier. I'll still finish him.”

(00:00) Intro
(00:35) The troubles on his flight to Singapore
(01:34) The situation at his new gym
(02:25) Planning to visit Italy
(03:19) Having a long camp for Bigdash
(04:07) Training with Gegard Mousasi and Alessio Di Chirico
(05:04) His cornermen
(06:30) His love for grappling
(06:57) Facing Andre Galvao in a grappling match in March
(07:39) Dealing with heavier opponents
(09:40) Whether he’s worried that his opponent might miss weight
(10:30) Defeating Kiamrian Abbasov in February
(12:28) Walking out to ‘Can’t Be Touched' by Roy Jones Jr.
(12:53) Outro

Tudor Leonte started writing about mixed martial arts in 2013 for Italian media outlets. His journey with Sherdog began in 2018 and he now covers One Championship and countless European shows. You can follow him on Twitter @MrTudorLeonte.