ONE Championship: Inside the Matrix – Aung La N Sang vs Reinier DeRidder Breakdown

The card itself is a stacked one. With the Women’s Strawweight Title on the line between Chinese superstar Xiong defending against the ever-impressive Teo, followed by part of the famous Lee family Christian defends his Lightweight title against the talented Lapidus. We also have the battle of Vietnam, with Thanh Le finally getting the fight he has been after for what seems like forever challenging the fan-favorite Featherweight champion, Martin Nguyen. This brings us to our main event and the fight I will be breaking down, between the impressive undefeated Dutchman Reinier DeRidder, and the son of Myanmar double weight world champion Aung La N Sang.

Meet the Fighters

Reinier DeRidder

Starting with the challenger, Reinier is one of the hottest guys at ONE right now. With a record of 12-0, he has finished 11 of those 12 fights. Unlike the stereotype of Dutch fighters, you could argue that his grappling and submission skills are his strong point over the more traditional Dutch kickboxing, that is no knock on his striking ability which is a deadly as they come. It’s more pointing out his credibility as a complete fighter, 7 of his last 11 fights have finished via submission which included a 1st Round D’Arce choke win on his ONE debut against Rong Fan.

Aung La N Sang

What more can be said about the Champion that hasn’t been said before, Aung is the far more experienced fighter with a record of 26-10-1. With notable victories over Bigdash, Hasegawa, and most recently Vera. The double-weight champion is on a current 7 fight win streak since he avenged his loss to Bigdash which coincides with his title run.

The Breakdown

STRIKING

As mentioned above DeRidder is very competent in this department, but when it comes to striking, NSang hits like a truck and with such precision. Every strike finding its target with pinpoint accuracy, as we saw most recently where he took apart Light Heavyweight Brandon Vera on his way to winning the title, as you will see below.

Advantage: Aung La N Sang

Submissions

This is where the fight equals out, and for me, this is where DeRidder must focus if he is to win this fight. again NSang has quality submission skills and a scary grip as we saw when he guillotine choked Ngalani, with a Python-like grip, but as previously mentioned DeRidder is on a submission hot streak if you will and it is my opinion this is where he gains an advantage and he can apply out of nowhere, as we see below on his debut at ONE.

Advantage: Reinier DeRidder

Controlling the pace

This one is a little more difficult to differentiate, as in 4 of the last 5 fights DeRidder hasn’t gone past the first minute of the 2nd round, clearly DeRidder likes to get it over with early, although his most recent victory was via unanimous decision over Ataides, NSang on the other hand, although he has the tools to finish it early, we have also seen how the Champion performs in the championship rounds, most notably against Bigdash and fight of the year win over Hasegawa. I have to feel if this fight goes the distance NSang experience will play a big part in the outcome.

Advantage: Aung La NSang

Durability

Again as far as breaking down these fighters skills, DeRidder’s own success makes this difficult to judge. As we have never really seen him tested or hurt in a big way to see how he copes with the situation, his positioning is another level. Therefore, keeping him out of the danger zone more than he is dragged in, NSang on the other hand we have seen has an iron chin, has been involved in two wars with Bigdash. The previously mentioned fight of the year with Hasegawa, and his recent win over Vera he was hit with a big spinning elbow, which he took in his stride on his way to getting the win. We have seen NSang dragged into the trenches and come out victorious.

Advantage: Aung La NSang

Prediction

I would expect DeRidder to come out looking for an early win, looking to use his positioning to avoid those accurate big hits of NSang, if we see him go for the submission we could very well see a new champion. But in my opinion, we are going to see a war, I see NSang using his experience to keep out of range of DeRidder submissions. He will use those clinical strikes to start testing DeRidder and dropping or hurting his opponent at the midway point of the fight, before going on to win by a late 4th round finish or a fairly comfortable Unanimous decision victory and retaining the title.

Winner : Aung La N Sang

Follow me on Twitter at @JamesRees83 for more MMA news and discussions.

Also, make sure to follow @OT_Heroics for all of your sporting needs. Don’t forget @MMA_OTH for all things MMA.

Come discuss this and much more at the Overtime Heroics forums!