Last night’s ONE Championship event had plenty of finishes and even an upset in the co-main event, and it finished off with Reinier de Ridder facing off against Aung La N Sang to claim the ONE Light Heavyweight Championship title.
De Ridder immediately scored a takedown as the fight opened, driving Aung La N Sang against the cage. A scramble occurred as Aung La N Sang tried to get away from de Ridder, but the Dutch fighter was persistent and kept his opponent on the ground, ending up inside half-guard. De Ridder began looking for submission opportunities and ultimately got to the back and locked in a body triangle. De Ridder searched for openings for a choke, pummeling his opponent with his fists before transitioning to mount and then side control. He then locked in a head-arm choke, and it looked for a moment like that might be the end of the fight, but Aung La N Sang managed to escape and get back to his feet. He hammered down a few punches onto de Ridder before dropping down to the ground with him, ending up in his opponent’s guard. Aung La N Sang returned to his feet and finished off the round with kicks to his opponent’s legs while de Ridder played open guard.
View this post on Instagram
In round two, de Ridder wasted little time in taking Aung La N Sang back to the ground. Aung La N Sang managed to get back to his feet, landing a few solid uppercuts before de Ridder brought the fight to the canvas again. Aung La N Sang kept de Ridder in half-guard for some time before his opponent slid into mount. The fence provided Aung La N Sang with good footing to escape the position, and he briefly returned to his feet before de Ridder took him back to the round and worked in a hook to try to take the back. De Ridder transitioned to side control and then knee-on-belly to land a final few punches before the bell rang.
De Ridder played with a few kicks at the start of round three before again taking the fight to the floor. Aung La N Sang’s efforts to get back up to his feet were ultimately futile, as de Ridder got to his back and sunk in both hooks. Though Aung La N Sang managed to avoid too much damage from the back, de Ridder soon transitioned to mount, initially going for an armbar before being forced to abandon the attempt and dishing out knees to Aung La N Sang’s body instead. Aung La N Sang got to his feet, and his opponent pinned him back against the fence. De Ridder managed to fit in a few more punches and knees before the bell rang and the fight moved to round four.
Another takedown from de Ridder kicked off round four, and the fighter soon got to Aung La N Sang’s back again and locked in a body triangle. From there, it was more of the same domination we’d seen in the previous rounds, with de Ridder moving to mount and pummeling his opponent until the end of the round.
The fifth and final round saw a repeat of the previous four rounds, with de Ridder scoring an early takedown and making his way into mount from half-guard. Aung La N Sang pushed himself off the cage with his feet and ended up in his opponent’s closed guard. The fighters remained mostly in the same position for the remainder of the fight, each one scoring some close-range strikes before time ran out.
Reinier de Ridder was declared the winner by unanimous decision and captured the light heavyweight title. The victory makes him a two-division ONE champ, having also claimed the Middleweight title from Aung La N Sang in October of last year.
Full Results:
- Colbey Northcutt def. Courtney Martin via armbar (Round 1)
- Jackie Buntan def. Ekaterina “Barbie†Vandaryeva via decision
- Shinya Aoki def. Eduard Folayang via armbar (Round 1)
- Kirill Grishenko def. Oumar “Reug Reug†Kane via TKO (Round 2)
- Ok Rae Yoon def. Eddie Alvarez via decision
- Reinier de Ridder def. Aung La N Sang via decision
