“I Got Redemption on My Mind” – Reinier De Ridder Eager to Get Back on Track After First Career Loss

Published 03/10/2023, 6:39 AM EST

Suffering his first career defeat wasn’t easy for Reinier “The Dutch Knight” de Ridder to accept, but the former two-division king is fired up to come back stronger than ever. The ONE Middleweight World Champion begins his quest to make things right when he takes on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu phenom Tye Ruotolo in a submission grappling match at ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on Prime Video in Broomfield, Colorado, on Friday, May 5.

But beyond the highly anticipated super-fight at ONE’s historic first show in the United States, “The Dutch Knight” wants to get back into MMA and put his only career defeat to bed.

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Reinier De Ridder won’t be bowed down by his loss against Anatoly Malykhin

The Combat Brothers representative said, “[Getting back to winning ways] is the most important thing. I got redemption on my mind. I’m fully focused on setting things straight. This is my year, man. I’m setting everything straight. I’m starting with a grappling match. And some MMA fights to cap it off.”

De Ridder slumped to a devastating defeat at the hands of Anatoly “Sladkiy” Malykhin in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 5 last December. He went down to the interim heavyweight king in the opening stanza and lost the ONE Light Heavyweight World Title in the process.

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The knockout loss was a bitter pill to swallow, but “The Dutch Knight” views it as a usual bump on the road to greatness.

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Reinier De Ridder wanted to forget his defeat with a victory against Tye Ruotolo

He is still the middleweight king, after all. And with a 16-1 record, he remains one of the top men to beat in both the 205-pound and 225-pound divisions. The 32-year-old mused, “S*** happens, man. I’ve never lost a fight before. I’ve never really been hurt in training. It was tough, but I was always prepared for this. I know that if you stick around long enough, if you look for the largest challenges – which I do – s*** happens.”

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MMA may be on his mind. But before he makes moves in the all-encompassing sport, De Ridder has his mind locked on causing a huge upset in ONE’s submission grappling ranks when he takes on Ruotolo at ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on Prime Video.

Tune in to see if he can do that when ONE arrives in North America on Friday, May 5.

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Written by:

Souvik Roy is currently a UFC writer at EssentiallySports. An avid UFC follower, Souvik combined his love for the sport and his passion for words to turn his interest into his Livelihood. A Diploma holder in Electrical Engineering, Souvik has worked as a Freelance Link Builder and Content Writer previously and wrote for various clients and businesses.

Edited by:

Rohini Kottu

“I Got Redemption on My Mind” – Reinier De Ridder Eager to Get Back on Track After First Career Loss

Reinier De Ridder won’t be bowed down by his loss against Anatoly Malykhin

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Reinier De Ridder wanted to forget his defeat with a victory against Tye Ruotolo