Reinier de Ridder celebrated a significant UFC victory over Bo Nickal, despite his former promotion ONE Championship posting, then deleting, a clip of his past defeat, which he took in stride while expressing satisfaction with his career move and maintaining no animosity towards his former opponent Anatoly Malykhin.
Reinier de Ridder snagged his biggest win since joining the UFC by taking down Bo Nickal, a three-time NCAA champ. But not everyone was cheering.
Right after the fight, ONE Championship posted a clip of de Ridder’s only career loss to Anatoly Malykhin. That tweet? Quickly deleted.
De Ridder wasn’t shocked. “Typical ONE thing to do,” he told MMA Fighting. “Interesting people there.”
Despite being a two-division champ, de Ridder’s time with ONE ended sourly due to inactivity. He fought just once between 2023 and 2024.
Now a UFC fighter, de Ridder’s advice? “If you’re thinking of signing with ONE Championship, don’t.”
He’s thriving in the UFC, boasting a perfect 3-0 record. Next up? A fight against former champ Robert Whittaker.
“I’m happy with where I am,” de Ridder said. “Maybe I needed those losses to set me straight.”
Malykhin took both his middleweight and light heavyweight titles, later becoming a three-division champ. Though he lost the heavyweight belt to Oumar “Reug Reug” Kane.
No hard feelings between de Ridder and Malykhin. In fact, Malykhin congratulated him after his win over Nickal.
“He’s a good guy,” de Ridder remarked. “No issues with him at all.”