Reinier de Ridder Establishes Himself as Title Contender After Defeating Robert Whittaker in Abu Dhabi
Reinier de Ridder, a prominent UFC middleweight, solidified his position as a legitimate title contender this Saturday, after defeating Robert Whittaker, a legend 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 the UFC Fight Night held in Abu Dhabi. 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 official scores being close, 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 along the cage or on the ground. He hurt Whittaker with knee strikes in the second round, and bloodied his mouth and nose midway through the fight.I expected to take him down and submit him. It was incredible. Very tough, very durable, very heavy hands.
Reinier de Ridder
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 with De Ridder with a perfect right to the chin and almost finished him with ground strikes immediately after. However, De Ridder managed to survive the attack and win the last two rounds.
De Ridder is known for being a grappler, with 14 of his 21 professional victories achieved by submission. He attempted takedowns at several points in the fight, but Whittaker defended 13 of the 15 attempts well. Ultimately, it was De Ridder’s pressure and volume that broke 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 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 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
