Reinier “The Dutch Knight” De Ridder wants to return to the Circle, and he isn’t looking at anyone in the middleweight or light heavyweight divisions.
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The mixed martial artist – who owns the World Title in both of those brackets – instead has his sights set on becoming a triple World Champion.
The Dutchman has two options – move down to welterweight, or muscle up to rumble in the heavyweight division. In a recent interview with ONE Championship, the Combat Brothers athlete revealed that he would rather take on India’s first-ever World Champion Arjan “Singh” Bhullar at heavyweight.
“[A fight with Bhullar] would be more interesting because I’ll give up a lot of weight. He’ll probably have 20 pounds on me, maybe even more. So that might take some more time to finish him,” the 31-year-old said.
“I might have to put in some more work, tire him out, hit him to the body some more before I get the finish in that fight.”
The beef between Reinier De Ridder and Arjan Bhullar
This isn’t the first time he has made this desire known. De Ridder and Bhullar have already swapped a couple of remarks online, following “Singh’s” sensational knockout victory over Brandon “The Truth” Vera for the ONE Heavyweight World Title at ONE: DANGAL in May.
“The Dutch Knight” posted a short video online, confidently stating that he could finish Bhullar, who responded with a video of his own.
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“I’m not Aung La N Sang. Let’s get that straight right now. You’re not going to run across the cage and try to shoot those garbage takedowns on me and keep me down with that garbage grappling, or close that distance with that garbage striking,” the World Champion stated.
Bhullar’s world-class wrestling was the difference when he stepped inside the Circle to face Vera. The Indian athlete became the first fighter to hand the Filipino-American a defeat in the ONE heavyweight division.
De Ridder, meanwhile, has punished four opponents on the global stage since his arrival in January 2019. He also handed Aung La “The Burmese Python” N Sang back-to-back defeats in the process.
Both men are eager to take each other on, and if a deal can be finalized, fans could very well be in for a spectacular five-round war – if it lasts that long.
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