Reinier De Ridder Plans To Right The Wrongs In Anatoly Malykhin Sequel At ONE 166: Qatar

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A comeback is always greater than a setback, and ONE Middleweight MMA World Champion Reinier de Ridder is out to prove that his 2022 loss to two-division ONE World Champion Anatoly Malykhin was nothing more than a bump in the road.

"The Dutch Knight" meets Malykhin in the humongous sequel on Friday, 1 March, at ONE 166: Qatar at the Lusail Sports Arena with his middleweight MMA crown up for grabs. Admittedly, losing his double-champ status to Malykhin at ONE on Prime Video 5 via first-round knockout was a humbling moment for De Ridder.

Across 16 professional bouts prior to meeting the Russian, De Ridder appeared to be an indestructible phenom in the division. Eleven of those wins came by submission. So when the grappler met a striker like "Sladkiy," the Dutchman viewed his prowess as incomparable. And he now knows that was a mistake.

"In the preparation for the fight, and maybe even the fights before, I kind of lost track of what makes me great. I got away from putting in the time as much, developing every little small area of my game," De Ridder said.

"It was always like that. There's a guy in front of me, I walk toward him, I take him down, I choke him out, basically. In my head, it kind of got stuck that this is how fights go, and I could do this to anybody in the world - until I couldn't.

"I made a mistake. I wasn't myself. I dropped the ball, and I'm looking to make good on this one."

Since his fateful meeting with Malykhin in December 2022, De Ridder has taken the time to enhance his game and make himself as bulletproof as one man can be. And a big motivational tool for De Ridder has been his redemption story.

Before Malykhin came along, the 33-year-old was holding down both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions in ONE Championship. The Russian spoiled that, taking the latter from him.

Malykhin believes his destiny is to become a three-weight ONE World Champion. That means stripping De Ridder of his ONE Middleweight MMA World Title. And that's a dream that De Ridder isn't going to allow to come to fruition in Qatar.

"I'm very happy that it's Malykhin again, very happy that it's a chance to redeem myself, which is the most important thing. It's about me getting back on this last fight. It's about me redeeming myself. It's about redemption," De Ridder said.

"I know where my strengths lie in this one. I know where I can do what I do best. It's just a matter of time before I get those openings. As long as I stay safe, I'm going to find his neck eventually."