ONE Championship 159: Reinier de Ridder puts Vitaly Bigdash to sleep in first round, declares ‘you know what’s next’
- The undefeated ‘Dutch Knight’ chokes out former middleweight champ with inverted triangle to retain belt in Singapore main event
- De Ridder again calls for a crack at heavyweight title as he bids to become first three division champion in promotion’s history
Reinier de Ridder made a huge statement in the main event of Friday night’s ONE Championship 159 card in Singapore, putting Vitaly Bigdash to sleep in the first round to retain his middleweight title.
The undefeated “Dutch Knight” strengthened his claim to being the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the Asian martial arts promotion with another dominant performance, choking out the former champ with an inverted triangle after just three minutes and 29 seconds.
Two-division champ De Ridder, 31, then told ONE commentator Mitch Chilson “you know what’s next” in his post-fight interview in the Circle, alluding to his bid for a third title at heavyweight.
“Anybody in the world, Mitch. Anybody in the world I’ll finish. I’ll strangle anybody on the planet,” said De Ridder, who also holds ONE’s light heavyweight MMA title.
“I’m done asking. You know what’s next,” he added, when asked about facing the winner of the mooted unification bout between heavyweight king Arjan Bhullar and interim champ Anatoly Malykhin.
“I want them both in the same night. Let’s go. I’m ready.”