ONE middleweight world champion, Reinier de Ridder, said that it is going to be an interesting fight when he locks horns with American phenom Tye Ruotolo in a submission grappling super fight this week, especially because he believes they have similar grappling styles.
The two will be a part of ONE Fight Night 10 on Prime Video on May 5, which is ONE Championship’s debut live on-ground event in the United States, happening at 1stBank Center in Colorado.
In an interview with ONE Championship, Reinier de Ridder said he expects an engaging back-and-forth with Tye Ruotolo with their many identical moves.
‘The Dutch Knight’ said:
“I think we might be very similar. We hit a lot of the same moves. We both rely on our stand-up game. We’re both very into takedowns and different stuff. I think there are more similarities in our games than differences.”
ONE Fight Night 10 will kickstart Reinier de Ridder’s “redemption tour” after suffering his first-ever professional mixed martial arts career defeat back in December, when he lost the ONE light heavyweight world title by knockout to Russian Anatoly Malykhin.
Against Tye Ruotolo, he is out to get back to his winning ways while also dealing his opponent a first loss under ONE Championship.
To see his goal through, Reinier de Ridder made sure he had ample time to prepare, training in various gyms and getting input from some of the top athletes in the game, including legendary champion fighter Georges St-Pierre.
ONE Fight Night 10 will be aired live and for free to North American fans with an active Prime Video subscription.