I think De Ridder has the skills to beat any middleweight in the UFC’s top ten.
That inverted triangle he landed yesterday on @ONEChampionship was so slick.
Where would you put him in the international rankings?#UFC #OneFC #WeAreONE #MMA— Dan Hardy (@danhardymma) July 23, 2022
Source:
https://scmp.com/sport/martial-arts/mixed-martial-arts/article/3186795/one-championships-reinier-de-ridder-could Mixed Martial Arts
ONE Championship’s Reinier de Ridder could ‘beat any middleweight in the UFC’s top 10’ says Dan Hardy
- De Ridder returned to action at ONE 159 last Friday in Singapore, choking out Vitaly Bigdash to defend his middleweight title
- Fighter-turned-analyst Hardy calls Dutchman’s win ‘so slick’ and backs him against the UFC’s best middleweights
Reinier de Ridder celebrates with his ONE middleweight MMA title after submitting Vitaly Bigdash at ONE 159 in Singapore. Photo: ONE Championship.
Dan Hardy likes Reinier de Ridder’s chances against the best of the UFC’s middleweights.
De Ridder was back in action in the main event of the ONE Championship 159 event last Friday in Singapore, choking Vitaly Bigdash unconscious to defend his middleweight title for a second time.
Hardy, a former UFC welterweight title challenger, and now one of MMA’s foremost analysts, was tuned in for the event, and believes the 31-year-old Dutch champion has a shot against any of the fighters in the UFC’s middleweight top 10.
“I think De Ridder has the skills to beat any middleweight in the UFC’s top ten,” Hardy wrote on Twitter after the fight, adding that the Dutchman’s finish was “so slick”.
The UFC middleweight top 10 is currently populated by stars like Alex Pereira, Marvin Vettori, Jared Cannonier, Robert Whittaker, and of course, the reigning champion Israel Adesanya.
All of those men are considered world-class talents, so Hardy’s praise of De Ridder is significant. And the replies to the analyst’s tweet were mostly in support of his claim – further proof of the reputation De Ridder has developed in MMA.
De Ridder (16-0) has looked almost unbeatable since he arrived in ONE. After rattling off a trio of wins over Fan Rong, Gilberto Galvao and Leandro Ataides in his first three fights, he captured the middleweight title with a first-round submission of Aung La N Sang in 2020.
He then swiped a second title from N Sang in 2021, beating “The Burmese Python” by decision to claim the light heavyweight belt. He has since defended the middleweight title twice, first pummelling welterweight champ Kiamrian Abbasov to a third-round submission win, then against Bigdash.
Reinier de Ridder chokes out Vitaly Bigdash to retain his middleweight MMA title at ONE 159.
After his latest victory, De Ridder called for the opportunity to challenge Arjan Bhullar for the ONE heavyweight title – before the division’s interim champion Anatoly Malykhin gets the opportunity.
“They’re talking about doing Malykhin and Bhullar first, but f*** that s***, man,” a fired up de Ridder said post-fight. Let me get my shot first. F*** them. Both of them in the same night, I don’t care.”
It is not yet clear if ONE intends to give De Ridder the opportunity to challenge for a third title.