Vitaly Bigdash Never Forgot What It's Like To Possess ONE Gold

Vitaly Bigdash is only one of the four men to ever hold the coveted world middleweight title in ONE Championship’s nearly 11-year history, and on July 22nd, he could be the first individual to recapture the 93-kilogram weight class’ top prize.

The 37-year-old native of Rostov-on-Don, Russia is set to challenge two-division titleholder Reinier de Ridder in the main event of ONE 159, which emanates live from the 12,000-seater Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Bigdash got his first taste of gold when he made his maiden appearance under the Singapore-based outfit’s banner in October 2015, pulling off an upset against inaugural champion Igor Svirid.

He came to the promotion as a relatively-unknown upstart who owned an unblemished 7-0 record with a 100% finishing rate back then.

The Russian turned heads as he defied insurmountable odds to knock out the heavily-favored Svirid in the second round to claim the intricately-crafted hardware.

Bigdash went on to successfully defend the belt once against Aung La N Sang in January 2017 before he relinquished it to the Burmese mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar in a rematch five months later.

It has been over five years since he relinquished his possession of the title, but he never lost sight of his mission to get a chance to have a world title fastened around his waist once again.

That opportunity has come, and two weeks from now, he could turn his dream into a reality at the expense of de Ridder.

“Five years and 22 days. That’s how long it will have been since I held the belt in my hands. And every hour, every minute has been dedicated to exactly this moment,” Bigdash said.

“It will be the new step in my career I’ve long been longing for. It will be the peak of my MMA career. Taking the belt of the best league in the world is the dream of every MMA fighter.”

It has been a rollercoaster ride for Bigdash before he secured his first world championship bout since 2017.

The Russian hard-hitter absorbed a third-round stoppage loss at the hands of Leandro Ataides in May 2018, but he managed to bounce back by racking up submission victories over the likes of Yuki Niimura and Fan Rong.

Bigdash finally punched his ticket to a date with de Ridder by outpointing fierce rival Aung La N Sang via unanimous decision in their rubber match this past February.

“Deep inside, of course, I’m very happy to have this opportunity to fight for the title again because I’ve been waiting for it for a long time,” he stated.

“It feels like divine providence. I feel that everything leads me to the title, and everything that’s happened was a challenge leading up to what’s next.”

It seems that Bigdash has no plans to wait for another five years in order to get a world title shot as he seeks to leave no stone unturned when he shares the cage with de Ridder on July 22.

“I’m confident. I know which skills I have in order to beat him. I think he would not be the champion if we faced off earlier because I believe I’m better in all aspects of fighting. I’m physically stronger and my striking is way better, so I don’t think he would have been able to pass me,” he declared.

“I’m ready to knock him out, submit him, dominate all five rounds–it doesn’t matter to me. Like I said after [the Aung La N Sang] fight, I will break his face.”