Reinier de Ridder Plans Revenge Against Anatoly Malykhin Before 2023

ParallelDesk 12:25:38 PM, 27 April 2023

"Willem V vertoont zich als Ridder in de Orde van de Kouseband op het bordes van Huis ten Bosch, 1752, Reinier Vinkeles, 1788" by Reinier Vinkeles is marked with CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/.
Image shown for representational purpose only.

Reinier de Ridder, also known as "The Dutch Knight," has his sights set on revenge against two-division ONE world champion Anatoly Malykhin before the end of 2023. The mixed martial artist suffered his first career setback in December when he lost the ONE light heavyweight world championship to the reigning interim heavyweight titleholder, Malykhin. De Ridder is scheduled to return to the circle at ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5, where he will grapple against 20-year-old submission sensation Tye Ruotolo. The event marks ONE Championship's long-awaited debut in the United States. In an interview with The MMA Superfan, de Ridder expressed his excitement about the upcoming match with Ruotolo and his intentions to exact revenge on Malykhin later this year. He said, "I want to get a good show in first, and I'm very excited to grapple Tye [Ruotolo] and showcase some of the things that I am developing in that match, but especially in the MMA match after... I need to set straight what happened last December at the end of this year." Before facing Malykhin, de Ridder will have to contend with Ruotolo, a fellow Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist. The Dutch Knight has only made one previous appearance in submission grappling under the ONE banner, where he fought to a draw against seven-time BJJ world champion Andre Galvao. Ruotolo, on the other hand, has yet to go the distance inside the circle and has scored back-to-back submissions against "The Lion Killer" Garry Tonon and former ONE featherweight world champion Marat Gafurov. Fans can catch ONE Fight Night 10 live and for free on Amazon Prime Video in U.S. primetime on May 5. As for de Ridder, he plans to eventually make his way back to the top of the ONE Championship by defeating Malykhin and reclaiming his light heavyweight title.