ONE Championship: Reinier de Ridder says ‘there’s not enough time in a life’ for Aung La N Sang to catch up to him on the ground
- Middleweight champ expects tougher takedown defence from N Sang in ONE on TNT 4 rematch but insists ‘I’m just going to take him out right away again’
- ‘To get a rivalry he should beat me and he’s not going to beat me any time,’ adds Dutchman, as he looks to win light heavyweight title
ONE Championship middleweight king Reinier de Ridder has told Aung La N Sang there’s nothing he can do to stop him taking his other title belt.
“The Burmese Python” will put his light heavyweight title on the line against the undefeated “Dutch Knight” in Thursday’s ONE on TNT 4 main event in Singapore. N Sang was originally set to defend in a trilogy bout with Vitaly Bigdash, but the Russian returned a positive Covid-19 test and De Ridder will jump in on less than a week’s notice.
De Ridder submitted N Sang via rear-naked choke in the first round last October, and insisted he doesn’t see this rematch as part of a rivalry.
“I’m just going to take him out right away again – to get a rivalry he should beat me and he’s not going to beat me any time,” De Ridder said this week on a virtual media conference.
“I think it’s going to be a little bit more of a hassle to get him down this time. Last time he really ran towards me and tried to put the pressure on early, which really benefited me in taking him down. I think he’s going to be more hesitant, a little bit more careful.
“I’m gonna have to put in a lot more work to get him down, but I still see him ending up on the ground and getting choked out again. It would be nice to get it done faster but I can’t promise anything this time.”