MMA fighter Reinier de Ridder from Breda has lost a fight for the first time in his career. Saturday’s loss immediately cost him his world title in the light heavyweights. What exactly went wrong in the fight, he cannot say on Sunday. He has not yet had the courage to look back at the game, De Ridder says in the program De Zuidtribune on Omroep Brabant radio.
The MMA fighter from Breda is okay in his own words. He will fly home from the Philippine capital Manila on Sunday evening. There he first makes time ‘for the important things in life: his wife and children’. The analysis of his first loss, after sixteen victories, therefore has to wait a while.
What he can say is that on the first punch he was ‘immediately hit wrong’ by his opponent, the Russian Anatoly Malykhin. De Ridder tried to survive, but it didn’t get any better. He was affected and could only continue ‘on autopilot’. Until the referee ended the match just before the end of the first round. This after a right direct from Malykhin against the head of the Bredanaar.
“I would like to continue right away, but I also know what is healthy.”
Of course De Ridder wants his title back. But now he wants to go home first. “To give his brain time to recover. I’d like to get back to it right away, but I also know what’s healthy,” says the man who is still the world middleweight champion at ONE Championship.
He indicates that he is no longer boxing or kickboxing. He might start wrestling a bit and jujitsu is also a possibility. To then come back and start a new streak of, if it’s up to him, sixteen new unbeaten fights as an MMA fighter.
Watch the fight between De Ridder and Anatoly Malykhin here:
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