The undefeated Dutchman will defend his light heavyweight strap against ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly "Sladkiy" Malykhin in the headlining bout of the star-studded spectacle at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila.

Though his upcoming opponent is well-known for his knockout power, de Ridder is so confident that he will get the job done when they face off that he has told the world when and how he will do it.

“Yeah, so I see this as the first minute, the first two minutes, are very important in this fight because he's going to come out strong, he's going to try and press forward. And I'm going to come out strong, I'm going to be in the middle of the Circle. You'll see me dominant from the first second. So in those first few seconds, those are going to be very explosive and very, very, very important,” he said.

“I think I can hit him with some good stuff because I'm more rangey. I think I can get in his face and hit him with some good jabs and with some good kicks. Clinch him, take him down, I see me controlling him on the floor, hitting him with some elbows, hitting him with some knees. And I see myself choking him out at the end of the first.”

The Dutch Knight has reason to believe in himself. After all, he currently holds an undefeated MMA record of 16-0. And of those wins, 11 have come by submission. He also predicted how his last two fights would end, so the 32-year-old knows what he’s talking about.

De Ridder made quick work of his last two opponents, and he foresaw that they would both fall to his grappling prowess when they came to challenge his middleweight throne. The Breda native finished Kiamrian “Brazen” Abbasov via an arm-triangle choke in February at ONE: FULL CIRCLE. And in July at ONE 159, he sank in an inverted triangle choke on Vitaly Bigdash to finish him too.

While "Sladkiy" is a serious threat as an undefeated athlete who has never reached the third round, de Ridder is confident that his grappling skills will lead him to victory in his first light heavyweight World Title defense.

“I'm going to take him down. I'm going to be on top. But if he decides to do the heavy work of taking me down, it would be cool. He's an interesting opponent, but he doesn't bring anything really special to the table,” de Ridder said.

Don’t miss de Ridder back in the Circle at ONE Fight Night 5: De Ridder vs. Malykhin on Saturday, Dec. 3 at the Mall of Asia Arena, Manila. Tickets can be purchased at: https://smtickets.com/events/view/11438.

This article was published in collaboration with ONE Championship.

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