Reinier De Ridder Stays Perfect With First-Round Submission

A new contender has emerged in ONE Championship’s middleweight division in the form of submission specialist Reinier De Ridder.

The 28-year-old from Breda, Netherlands put on a flawless performance in his promotional debut at ONE: HERO’S ASCENT in Manila, Philippines.

At the Mall Of Asia Arena, the Combat Brothers representative quickly forced China’s “King Kong Warrior” Fan Rong to tap out via D’Arce choke on Friday, 25 January.

De Ridder began the contest by marching across the cage. It was only a matter of seconds before he shot for a single-leg takedown and easily took Fan to the mat.

On the canvas, the Dutchman took half guard and flattened his rival out. He was allowed plenty of space to advance, and though the Chinese athlete offered some resistance, it only took a moment for De Ridder to pass into side control.

From there, he attacked with a kimura, but the muscular Fan had the strength to defend and survive the submission attempt.

However, when he was free and scrambled to his knees, he left himself wide open to a choke. De Ridder shot his right arm under the chin to lock in the D’Arce choke, and then dropped to his side to tighten his grip.

Fan had no escape, and the bout was stopped within seconds as “King Kong Warrior” went to sleep. The finish came at the 1:51 mark of round one – the second fastest submission in the history of ONE’s middleweight division.

De Ridder’s seventh first-round finish of his career was his eighth submission overall. It took him to 10-0 as a professional and maintained his 100 percent finishing rate.

The Dutchman has been as close to perfect as possible in his professional mixed martial arts career, and if he continues this kind of form, a ONE Middleweight World Title shot may not be too far away.