“They’ve Really Opened the Book for Me” – Reinier De Ridder Opens Up on the Positive Impact BJJ GOAT Gordon Ryan and John Danaher Had on the Preparation for His Fight Against Tye Ruotolo

Current middleweight MMA king Reinier “The Dutch Knight” de Ridder is pumped up to show off his ever-evolving, world-class ground game in an intriguing submission grappling showdown with BJJ phenom Tye Ruotolo at ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III – the organization’s historic debut on American soil. 

Now, just days away from that May 5 battle at 1stBank Center in Colorado, “The Dutch Knight” has sought out the best minds in jiu-jitsu to help him prepare for what Ruotolo will bring to the Circle.

Reinier de Ridder will be eyeing victory after training with a world-famous grappling coach

In many ways, the bout will be De Ridder’s shot at redemption, as it comes five months after he lost his ONE Light Heavyweight World Title to Anatoly “Sladkiy” Malykhin in devastating fashion. Obviously, the Combat Brothers athlete wants to ensure a triumphant return to competition.

To that end, he’s enlisted the help of world-renowned BJJ coach John Danaher, as well as Danaher’s top student, multiple-time ADCC World Champion Gordon Ryan. De Ridder says that working with those elite grappling specialists has been a true game-changer.

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He said, “Gordon and John Danaher have been a great help in that area. I thought I knew a couple of tricks, but they’ve really opened the book for me. And it’s very cool to be welcomed there. It’s very cool that they’ve helped me out, and they’ve really helped me get my game to a new level.”

Renier De Ridder had worked on the minute elements to upgrade his overall grappling game

As a BJJ and judo black belt, the Dutch star is considered by many to be MMA’s best overall grappler, but MMA grappling and pure submission grappling are different skill sets. According to de Ridder, his focused work on the intricacies and finer points of grappling has elevated his submission game to a new level.

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“The Dutch Knight” added, “It’s been very cool to focus on grappling for the last four months. I’ve only done some MMA stuff once, twice, or three times a week, but grappling has been the main focus. I’ve been grappling twice a day. And normally in an MMA camp, I might grapple four times a week and do four sessions a week. So now I get that in two days. It’s very cool to see how my game is growing.”