ONE Championship has bolstered its middleweight division with the signing of Reinier de Ridder. The undefeated Dutchman is coming off a successful stint with EFC in South Africa and looks set to be an immediate title contender.
The Dutchman has a background in Judo and BJJ and is 6’3″, making him one of the tallest fighters in the middleweight division. He boasts a perfect professional record of 9-0, and seven of those wins have come by way of submission.
De Ridder is not the first undefeated middleweight to sign with ONE Championship. Unlike the others he will be hoping to keep his winning streak intact, something that Alexey Butorin, Vitaly Bigdash and Leandro Ataides were all unable to do.
The reigning middleweight champion is Aung la Nsang who also holds the light heavyweight belt. He tends to fight exclusively in Yangon meaning that his next title defence is likely to take place at ONE: ‘Reign Of Valor’ on March 8th, the only Myanmar event on the 2019 calendar.
Ataides and Bigdash could also be in contention for middleweight title shots. The former is riding a three fight winning streak while the latter rebounded from back to back losses, including one against the Brazilian, with an impressive submission win at ONE: ‘Destiny of Champions’ last weekend.
Next up for the promotion is ONE: ‘Eternal Glory’ in Jakarta on January 19th. The show will be headlined by a strawweight title rematch between champion Joshua Pacio and challenger Hayato Suzuki.
