Reinier de Ridder lived up to the expectations in his latest title defense.
ONE championship two-division king Reinier de Ridder took on Vitaly Bigdash in his last outing at ONE Championship 159 in Singapore. De Ridder, who holds the middleweight belt in the promotion as well, successfully defended his light heavyweight title against Bigdash.
Reinier de Ridder finished Vitaly Bigdash in the 1st rounded
De Ridder put his unblemished record on the line in the title fight. In the opening round of the contest, “The Dutch Knight” put Bigdash to sleep with an inverted triangle choke around the 3:29 mark of the main event bout.
He was coming off a victory over Kiamrian Abbasov in Feb. going into the fight and had dethroned the former promotional champion Aung La N Sang to get the first belt. The 31-year-old rematched La N Sang and came out on top to secure the second strap.
Former light heavyweight champion Bigdash was looking to reign again over the division but failed to recapture the title five years after first winning it from the undefeated De Ridder.
De Ridder wants to win the third belt
Before his fight, De Ridder had stated his ambitions to get a third ONE title with a move up to heavyweight. In his post-fight interview, he reiterated his desire to challenge the heavyweight champion Arjan Bhullar and interim champ Anatoly Malykhin, and that he’d take them on the same night.
“Anybody in the world – anybody in the world, I’ll finish. I’ll strangle anybody on the planet. I got him a little earlier than I thought. I had to wear him out a little bit. I was thinking it would be in the second round, but I got him. … That’s what I do: I choke people out. That’s what I do.”
You can watch the highlights below:
16-0! 👑 Reinier de Ridder puts Vitaly Bigdash to SLEEP with an inverted triangle to retain his ONE Middleweight World Title!#ONE159 | https://t.co/eBUfsODAFL pic.twitter.com/YDbzk92pGM
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) July 22, 2022
