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Reinier de Ridder to face Vitaly Bigdash in main event of ONE 159
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Two-division ONE world champion Reinier de Ridder walks into the circle ahead of his submission grappling match against Andre Galvao at ONE X on March 26.
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a href="https://www.onefc.com/athletes/reinier-de-ridder/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Reinier “The Dutch Knight” de Ridder will step into action once again in the main event of ONE 159: De Ridder vs. Bigdash on 22 July.
The two-division ONE World Champion will put his middleweight strap on the line against Vitaly Bigdash at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in a battle that is sure to produce fireworks.
De Ridder has lit up the ONE Championship circle every time he has visited it. His incredible unbeaten tenure in the promotion has yielded him both the ONE Middleweight and Light Heavyweight World Championships, making him one of very few “champ-champs” in the mixed martial arts world today.
The Dutch phenom took his record to a staggering 15-0 in his last ONE World Title defense at ONE: FULL CIRCLE in February. That evening, he took out former welterweight king Kiamrian Abbasov, who had come up a division to challenge De Ridder for his middleweight strap.
“The Dutch Knight” dominated “Brazen” for most of the bout before finishing him with an arm-triangle submission in the third round to cement his dominance in the division.
The victory over Abbasov was De Ridder’s first defense of his middleweight belt, but the Dutchman has been far from inactive in ONE. He won both of his belts against Aung La N Sang in two captivating battles, and he most recently took on grappling legend Andre Galvao in a submission grappling match at ONE X in March.
The effervescent athlete has made it abundantly clear that he is interested in competing at any time, and he will undoubtedly be satisfied with the challenge that his upcoming opponent will pose.
Read also: Adriano Moraes, Demetrious Johnson II headline ONE’s first Amazon Prime Video event
Bigdash, on the other hand, has been impressive throughout his time in ONE. He has held and defended the Middleweight World Title, and his overall professional record of 12-2 includes wins over impressive opposition like Igor Svirid and Fan Rong.
The Russian star is arguably most known for his heated rivalry with Aung La N Sang. The two superstars faced each other on three occasions, with each winning one before the trilogy bout went down in February of this year. Bigdash managed to inflict the final blow, and his dominant victory set him on a collision course with De Ridder.
With both men in the best form of their careers, this main event showdown is guaranteed to be a barnburner. And at the end of the night, it will either be De Ridder solidifying his chokehold on the stacked middleweight division or Bigdash heralding in a new reign by handing “The Dutch Knight” his first career defeat.
Watch ONE 159 on July 22 in ONE Super App and subscribe to ONE Championship on YouTube!
This article is published in collaboration with ONE Championship.
