Reinier de Ridder Taps Kiamrian Abbasov, Roman Kryklia Smashes Murat Aygun at One ‘Full Circle’

Reinier de Ridder appears to have no equal among the One Championship ranks.

In the One: “Full Circle“ main event, de Ridder kept an iron grip on his middleweight title by completely shutting down the challenger, Kiamrian Abbasov. De Ridder (15-0, 6-0 One) shot for a takedown right out of the gate, and it never got better for Abbasov once his back was on the mat. The Dutchman kept his opponent pinned on the canvas for most of the first frame, scoring with effective ground-and-pound. When Abbasov powered back to his feet, de Ridder landed some nice knees to the head.

The grappling clinic continued in Round 2, as “The Dutch Knight“ took his foe to the floor with ease, overwhelming Abbasov (23-5, 4-2 One) with smothering top control and razor-sharp elbows. Right before the end of the stanza, de Ridder latched on to an arm-triangle choke, and Abbasov tapped a split-second after the bell sounded. This spelled the beginning of the end for the challenger, as de Ridder went for the same submission that he had locked up minutes ago. This time, there was no dispute, as Abbasov surrendered when the time read 57 seconds. In the post-fight interview, de Ridder reiterated his ambition to move up to heavyweight and face whoever has the belt, while pocketing a $50,000 performance bonus.

Roman Kryklia finishes Murat Aygun with a ferocious first-round flurry to remain the ONE Light Heavyweight Kickboxing World Champion! #ONEFullCircle #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/uqxkX8alaM

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) February 25, 2022

In the co-main event, light heavyweight kickboxing kingpin Roman Kryklia authored a superb performance versus Murat Aygun. Kryklia made the most out of his longer reach, keeping his opponent at his preferred distance and scoring from afar. Kryklia also used the clinching game effectively to disrupt his adversary’s pace every time it appeared that it was about to take off. In the last minute of the opening stanza, Kryklia knocked down his foe with a right hand. Aygun answered the referee’s count, even if he was visibly on wobbly legs. Noticing that his opponent was in dire straits, an eager Kryklia moved the referee away and finished the job with a kick to the body and some follow-up punches. The end came at the 2:32 mark, notching another successful title defense and earning an important victory representing his home country of Ukraine.

Elsewhere, former middleweight champion Vitaly Bigdash (12-2, 5-2 One) ended the trilogy with Aung La N Sang (27-13, 1 NC; 12-4 One) after outwrestling his opponent en route to a unanimous decision despite missing weight by three pounds in what should have been a One middleweight match; Tayfun Ozcan upended Enriko Kehl on all three scorecards in their featherweight kickboxing affair; at heavyweight, Ultimate Fighting Championship and Strikeforce veteran Guto Inocente crushed Bruno Susano with punches and kicks at the 2:22 mark of Round 2 of their heavyweight kickboxing encounter; Fabricio Andrade (7-2, 4-0 One) scored his sixth straight victory after folding Jeremy Pacatiw (10-5, 1-1 One) with a knee to the liver that stopped the action 1:37 into first frame in a One bantamweight matchup.

In some preliminary card action, former One welterweight and PXC welterweight champion Zebaztian Kadestam (13-7, 5-4 One) snapped a three-bout skid by smashing Valmir da Silva Barbosa (8-2, 0-1 One) thanks to a precise boxing combination at 1:26 of Round 1. The fight was changed to a catchweight at 192 pounds after “The Bandit” missed weight by six pounds. Additionally, Vladimir Kuzmin took home a unanimous decision over Chris Shaw in a bantamweight muay Thai clash; 17-year-old Smilla Sundell put on a surgical performance at the expense of Diandra Martin, stopping her foe after four knockdowns at 1:35 of the third stanza in their 128-pound muay Thai catchweight contest; Daniyal Zainalov (8-0, 1-0 One) did enough to outpoint Yuri Simoes (0-2, 0-2 One) with a split decision at middleweight; in some kickboxing action, Daniel Puertas edged Jiduo Yibu thanks to a narrow split decision at flyweight; Drex Zamboanga (9-5, 2-0 One) stopped Rahul K. Raju (8-7, 3-6 One) with punches 65 seconds into their lightweight contest.