Reinier de Ridder Solidifies His Position as a Title Contender in the UFC
Reinier de Ridder proved his worth as a title contender by defeating Robert Whittaker in an exciting match at UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi. De Ridder (21-2) secured his fourth UFC victory, and his third this year, after defeating Whittaker by split decision. Two of the three judges scored the 185-pound fight 48-47 in favor of De Ridder, while the third saw it 48-47 for Whittaker.Despite the contentious official scores, De Ridder outperformed Whittaker in almost every statistical category. According to UFC statistics, De Ridder landed 169 total strikes, compared to Whittaker’s 100. He was also credited with just over nine minutes of control time, either against the cage or on the ground. In the second round, he hurt Whittaker with knee strikes, and his mouth and nose bled mid-fight. Whittaker’s best moment came in the first minute of the third round, when he knocked De Ridder down with a counter right hand. He connected a perfect right hand to De Ridder’s chin and almost finished him with ground strikes immediately after. However, De Ridder managed to survive the onslaught and won the last two rounds. De Ridder is known for his grappling ability, with 14 of his 21 professional victories by submission. He attempted takedowns at various points in the fight, but Whittaker defended 13 of 15 attempts well. Ultimately, it was De Ridder’s pressure and volume that made Whittaker succumb, more than his grappling experience. This has been a successful year for De Ridder, who is from the Netherlands but trains at Kill Cliff FC in Florida. He submitted Kevin Holland in January and then knocked out the promising Bo Nickal in May to get his first UFC main event. For Whittaker, 34, it’s the first time he’s lost consecutive fights since 2013. He lost by submission to Khamzat Chimaev last October. Immediately after the fight, De Ridder asked for a title shot against the winner of next month’s championship fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Chimaev at UFC 319. De Ridder entered Saturday’s fight ranked number 13 in the division. Whittaker was ranked number 5.I was expecting to take him to the ground and submit him. It was incredible. Very tough, very resilient, very heavy hands.
Reinier de Ridder
I don’t want to fight anyone like this man again. He was too tough. I want to finish a guy in the first round, so maybe it would be better if I fought Khamzat or Dricus. Give me my title shot.
Reinier de Ridder
