The UFC middleweight, Reinier de Ridder, consolidated his position as a legitimate title contender on Saturday, surpassing the acclaimed Robert Whittaker. De Ridder (21-2) secured his fourth UFC victory, and the third this year, by defeating Whittaker via split decision at UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi. Two of the three judges scored the 185-pound bout 48-47 in favor of De Ridder, while the third saw it 48-47 for Whittaker.
Despite the close 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 on the fence or on the ground. He damaged Whittaker with knee strikes in the second round, and made his mouth and nose bleed mid-fight. The best moment for Whittaker 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 offensive and win the final two rounds. De Ridder is known for his grappling, with 14 of his 21 professional victories by submission. He put a lot of effort into takedown attempts at various points in the fight, but Whittaker defended well 13 of 15 attempts. Ultimately, it was De Ridder’s pressure and volume that Whittaker succumbed to, more than his grappling skills. 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 in 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 expected to take him down and submit him. It was incredible. Very tough, very durable, 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
