By:  | July 22, 2022 10:53 pm

Reinier de Ridder choked Vitaly Bigdash unconscious in the main event of ONE 159 tonight. The undefeated Dutchman maintained his perfect professional record and defended his middleweight belt with another submission win at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

For once de Ridder did experience adversity. He was caught in a tight guillotine after attempting an early takedown and appeared to be on the verge of losing consciousness.

But de Ridder is a seasoned grappler and when he eventually worked his way out of the submission the Dutchman had Bigdash exactly here he wanted him. The Russian was on his back and eating straight punches although none of them did any serious damage.

Top position

De Ridder attempted a kimura but he gave up the position in the process and this time it was Bigdash who found himself in top position. The challenger had no chance to capitalize as the champion instantly wrapped those long legs around his neck.

Bigdash was caught in an inverted triangle and had no time to adjust, escape or even tap. Within seconds he was clearly unconscious and the referee stepped in to save him at the 3:29 mark.

The win was the seventh of de Ridder’s ONE Championship career and takes his record to 16-0 while Bigdash drops to 12-3. He already holds the middleweight and light heavyweight titles and afterwards he made it clear that he still wants to challenge for the heavyweight belt.

Afterwards he was told he had earned a $50,000 USD performance bonus.

Best of the rest

Earlier in the evening Danial Williams (6-1) earned a $50,000 USD performance bonus with a devastating KO win over Zelang Zhaxi (16-7). A right hand did the damage with the experienced Chinese fighter wobbling and eventually collapsing as the Thai / Australian scored his third successive ONE Championship win.

Marat Gafurov (19-4) prevailed over Ariel Sexton (13-5) in a lightweight battle between two veteran grapplers. He was able to easily take his opponent down and was landing ground and pound at will towards the end of the fight with the referee stepping in to save the Costa Rican from further punishment.

ONE 159, Singapore, July 22nd
Reinier de Ridder def. Vitaly Bigdash by Submission (Inverted triangle choke) at 3:29 of R1
Muay Thai: Janet Todd def. Lara Fernandez by Decision (Unanimous)
Muay Thai: Muangthai PKSaenchai def. Vladimir Kuzmin by Decision (Split)
Kickboxing: Zhang Peimain def. Aslanbek Zikreev by Decision (Unanimous)
Muay Thai: Jamal Yusupov def. Jo Nattawut by Decision (Unanimous)
Danial Williams def. Zelang Zhaxi by KO (Punch) at 4:20 of R1
Muay Thai: Sinsamut Klinmee def. Liam Nolan by KO (Punch) at 0:05 of R2
Marat Gafurov def. Ariel Sexton by TKO (Punches) at 4:15 of R3
Valmir da Silva def. Jin Tae Ho by Submission (guillotine choke) at 4:50 of R2