Reinier de Ridder sees no real threat from Arjan Bhullar or Anatoly Malykhin Arjan Bhullar (left), Reinier de Ridder (middle), and Anatoly Malykhin (right) [Photo Credits: ONE Championship] ONE Championship’s reigning dual-world champion successfully defended his middleweight world title in the main event of ONE 159. He put away Russian juggernaut in spectacular fashion, submitting the former world champion with an inverted triangle choke in the very first round. It was another highlight reel finish for the undefeated grappler. Moving to 16-0 in his professional MMA career, ‘The Dutch Knight’ made it clear following his successful defense that he has his sights set on adding a third world title to his collection. De Ridder has been more than vocal about his desire to fight for the heavyweight world title pending a unification bout between reigning heavyweight king and the promotion’s interim heavyweight champion, . After his win at ONE 159, ‘The Dutch Knight’ discussed his two possible heavyweight opponents. Reinier de Ridder said: “Malykhin has strong power punches but he's pretty short -- short punches, throws a lot of hooks, a lot of short stuff. He'd be pretty good to take down, to be honest. Bhullar throws good punches but he doesn't really have a lot of power, to be honest. And he won't be the first wrestler I'll face.” If it weren’t blatantly obvious that Reinier de Ridder is more than confident in his ability to defeat both Bhullar and Malykhin, ‘The Dutch Knight’ gave a very matter-of-fact statement to hammer home his point. “I take wrestlers down. I choke out black belts, out strike strikers. I don't give any f***s.”

Reinier de Ridder s next task is to make mixed martial arts history

With a strong foothold in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, Reinier de Ridder is setting his sights on heavyweight gold next. With an undefeated record of 16-0, 11 victories by way of submission, and two world titles around his waist, ‘The Dutch Knight’ has earned the right to call his next shot and a showdown with either Arjan Bhullar or Anatoly Malykhin appears to be next for the Breda, Netherlands native. “The goal is to do something nobody else can. I did that by becoming a champ. I did that by becoming a double-champ. And now I want to keep going, beating everybody in the world. Because that’s special.” De Ridder is a special breed of athlete who has already etched his name in the history books by becoming a two-division world champion. With that said, ‘The Dutch Knight’ could launch himself into the stratosphere and beyond by becoming the first fighter to hold three world titles in three different divisions simultaneously. All with the same promotion. It’s unheard of and it sounds absolutely insane, but after his destruction of Vitaly Bigdash at ONE 159, you can’t deny that if anyone can do it, De Ridder can. Watch some of de Ridder's highlights in the video below: Poll : 0 votes Quick Links More from Sportskeeda Thank You! Show More Comments No thanks Delete Cancel Update Reply ❮ ❯ No thanks Delete Cancel Update Reply ❮ ❯ Be the first one to comment on this story More from Sportskeeda Fetching more content... 1 Logout No Results Found