Highlights! De Ridder Stretchered Off After Brutal KO Loss

Formerly undefeated ONE Championship double champ Reinier de Ridder suffered a brutal knockout loss last night (Fri., Dec. 2, 2022) at ONE on Prime 5 live on Amazon Prime from inside Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines. De Ridder wound up getting stopped by Anatoliy Malykhin in the first round to lose his light heavyweight title and eventually get stretchered out of the cage.

Despite being the betting favorite to retain his title and push his undefeated MMA record to 17-0 de Ridder couldn’t find his rhythm. The bigger and stronger Malykhin was able to dictate the pace of the fight and had his way with the ONE double champ. Eventually, a massive right hand by Malykhin connected along the cage and de Ridder toppled to the canvas. Malykhin followed up with vicious hammer fists before the referee stepped in to stop the action.

Check out the knockout in the above player and the aftermath below:

This was de Ridder’s first attempt at defending his light heavyweight title after winning it off Aung La Nsang back in 2021. De Ridder had defended his middleweight strap twice this year, but this matchup against Malykhin proved too much. It remains to be seen if ONE will grant de Ridder an immediate rematch and present him the opportunity to regain his champ-champ status.

Malykhin, on the other hand, pushed his professional record to a perfect 11-0 with this first-round stoppage. The Russian champion has finished every won of his wins by knockout or submission and is currently 4-0 under the ONE Championship banner. Malykhin came into this fight as ONE’s interim heavyweight titleholder so he will now walk around as a double champion in his own right.