Tag: Reinier de ridder

EXCLUSIVE | Arjan Bhullar Prefers To Fight Reinier De Ridder At Light-Heavyweight

Arjan BhullarONE Championship’s heavyweight titleholder, Arjan Bhullar is the open to the idea of moving down in weight for a fight with the current light-heavyweight and middleweight champion, Reinier De Ridder. De Ridder recently expressed his desire to move up to heavyweight and dethrone Bhullar to become a three-weight world champion. The first fighter of Indian […]

Arjan Bhullar

ONE Championship’s heavyweight titleholder, Arjan Bhullar is the open to the idea of moving down in weight for a fight with the current light-heavyweight and middleweight champion, Reinier De Ridder.

De Ridder recently expressed his desire to move up to heavyweight and dethrone Bhullar to become a three-weight world champion.

The first fighter of Indian descent to ever win an MMA world title has since responded to the notion of a fight with De Ridder during an interview with LowKickMMA’s Keelin McNamara.

“First of all, I call the shots on that on the side. He knows that the company knows that.” Bhullar said.  “So, you know, he’s been mentioning my name to try to get some of that shine for sure and I don’t like giving it to people cause I never did that on my way up, so earn your way. Don’t start to mention my name in interviews and all that. You’re not gonna get a crack at me that way. I call the shots and maybe we do it at light heavyweight. Why would I give him a chance to come up?

“I’m the A-side. If that’s (a move to light-heavyweight) what we decide to do, we will do that. If we decide to do heavyweight, we will do that. It’s whatever we want, but getting another belt at a different weight to something that interests me. That intrigues me. It builds on my legacy, rather than just defending my belt.”

Despite being open to the fight Bhullar thinks De Ridder needs to make some title defences before it can actually happen.

“He’s got to defend. That’s the main thing .” Bhullar said. “Again, you want to be special? You want to stand out for me?  Make a name for yourself, defend your titles and get some momentum and we’ll make it work.”

Do you want to see Arjan Bhullar vs. Reinier De Ridder at light-heavyweight?

EXCLUSIVE: Reinier De Ridder Talks Title Shot And Bringing ONE To Holland

ONE Championship middleweight Reinier De Ridder will finally get his shot at the title this October, when he takes on defending champion Aung La N Sang at ONE: Inside The Matrix. The undefeated Dutchman has begun training for the clash and is not leaving anything to chance as he prepares himself for the biggest fight […]

ONE Championship middleweight Reinier De Ridder will finally get his shot at the title this October, when he takes on defending champion Aung La N Sang at ONE: Inside The Matrix. The undefeated Dutchman has begun training for the clash and is not leaving anything to chance as he prepares himself for the biggest fight of his career.

“It’s different. It’s definitely different; it feels like I am letting the animal out again,” de Ridder said, speaking to LowkickMMA about his preparation.

“In training, I can really let go now. I can really let everything out. In fighting, it’s a weird balance between being just a normal guy, with your family and living and loving and then the side of you that has to come out and perform in the gym, and especially in the cage, it’s a crazy balance. I need a fight lined up to let the animal come out, to give everything to go 100 percent to let that side of my personality come out.”

The thirty-year-old is well aware of what Aung La will bring to the table when the two meet on Fri. October 30,in Singapore. The Myanmar fighter is currently living in Florida, training at Sanford MMA alongside UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. De Ridder knows he will be facing a fighter who will be well-drilled and ready come fight night, but he is not expecting to see anything radically different from his opponent.

” I think he is going to be the same guy. At our age at our level at the game, you’re not going to change majorly. I think he’s going to be fit like he always is, and I think he is going to punch and kick very hard,” de Ridder said.

” He’s a great fighter, and he’s very strong, and he’s very special, but the technique and way he moves is not the most special. It’s not very different from anyone else, and me being from Holland, being from a kickboxing city, it’s very easy to get guys like him in the gym.”

One of the aces that de Ridder has is his sparring partner, Bellator’s Gegard Mousasi, who is one of the sports top strikers.

” My main guy is always Gegard Mousasi. There is no striker like Gegard. There is nobody that can match up with him. He’s so fast; he’s so technical, he’s so precise,” de Ridder exclaimed.

If he gets the victory over his opponent, de Ridder expects it to be only the first chapter in his rivalry with Aung La, who also holds the ONE light heavyweight crown.

“One thing is for sure. I am going to have to fight Aung La again. That happens at middle or light heavy that is fine with me, but I would really like it if we could arrange for it to happen in Holland,” he exclaimed.

” ONE has been talking about it, this year and the end of last year they talked about it, that, that’s the plan. We have a lot of Dutch kickboxers in ONE right now. We have Regian Eersel, and [Ilias] Ennahachi, and both are champions. We have a lot of top-level guys who are not yet the champion. So I think they could put a great Dutch card together. So that’s the hope, that would be amazing.”

If de Ridder can get the job done, this October, then a ONE Championship card in Holland would become that much more of a possibility.

Check out the full interview below.