Reinier de Ridder from Breda has no mercy on his opponent when he defends his MMA world title on Friday evening in Singapore. In the ring of ONE Championship, De Ridder faces the Russian Vitaly Bigdash. “For me, he’s just the next one to die,” Reinier says confidently.
Leading up to the Mixed Martial Arts fight, the two fighters were available for questions. The rhetoric was clear:
bigdash: “I am confident that I can solve the puzzle and become the first to beat De Ridder.”
The Knight: ”He just says what he wants to say. I predict I’ll take him down in the 2nd round. He always starts strong. Then he gets tired quickly. Then I’ll get him.”
bigdash: “I don’t get tired easily at all!”
The Knight: “My opponent has muscles, but muscles need a lot of oxygen. I’m much better physically. No one can hold out against me for long. And then in the meantime they also lose the will to fight.”
bigdash: “The promotional video of him with a picture of my head on a punching bag was not fun. That’s why I said I’m going to break his face.”
The Knight: “Oh that was a joke, everyone likes that.”
Reinier de Ridder has won all his fifteen matches as a professional. Since 2020, he is the world middleweight champion of MMA with the organization ONE Championship.
ONE is a huge Asian organization with tens of millions of followers. Their matches are broadcast in more than 150 countries.
Reinier de Ridder’s match is the headliner in Singapore and is expected to start at six o’clock in the evening Dutch time. It is a maximum of five rounds of five minutes.