Reinier de Ridder Establishes Himself as Title Contender After Defeating Robert Whittaker
UFC middleweight Reinier de Ridder solidified himself as a legitimate title contender on Saturday, after defeating Robert Whittaker, an icon and fan favorite. De Ridder (21-2) achieved his fourth victory in the UFC, and the third this year, by defeating Whittaker by split decision at UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi. Two of the three judges scored the 185-pound fight 48-47 in favor of De Ridder, while the third scored 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 against the cage or on the ground. He hurt Whittaker with knee strikes in the second round, and made his mouth and nose bleed midway through the 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 win the last two rounds. De Ridder is known for being a grappler, 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 13 of the 15 takedown attempts well. Ultimately, it was De Ridder’s pressure and volume that subdued Whittaker, 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 main event in the UFC. 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 contest ranked 13th in the division. Whittaker was ranked 5th.I was expecting to take him to the ground and submit him, De Ridder said. It was incredible. Very tough, very resilient, with heavy hands.
Reinier de Ridder
I don’t want to fight anyone like this man again, De Ridder said about Whittaker. 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
