The ONE welterweight world champion will give up a little bit of size with the move up a weight class. However, he believes that it may even be an advantage for him. In a recent interview, Abbasov explained that fighting bigger opponents is not new for him, saying:
De Ridder stands at 193 centimeters tall as opposed to Abbasov’s 188-centimeter height. Instead of creating distance though, de Ridder typically uses his size to close the distance on his opponent. ‘Brazen’ believes that this strategy will not work against him, saying:
Kiamrian Abbasov is confident that he can overcome height disadvantage
While Reinier de Ridder believes that his height will be difficult for Kiamrian Abbasov to overcome, ‘Brazen’ is confident that he can get the win. He said:
This will be the first time since 2017 that Abbasov will compete against someone bigger than him. Through his current five-bout win streak, he has defeated four smaller fighters and one who was as tall as he was in Yushin Okami.
Abbasov spoiled the Japanese veteran’s promotional debut in May 2019’s ONE: For Honor with an unforgiving ground-and-pound attack. It ended their match in the second round.
Abbasov is looking to replicate that success against the much bigger de Ridder and become ONE Championship’s newest two-division world champion.
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