Reinier de Ridder Earns Title Contender Status After Defeating Robert Whittaker
Reinier de Ridder, a prominent middleweight fighter, solidified his position as a legitimate title contender on Saturday, overcoming Robert Whittaker, a sports icon and fan favorite. De Ridder (21-2) achieved his fourth UFC victory, 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 close official score, De Ridder outstruck Whittaker in almost every statistic. According to UFC data, De Ridder landed 169 total strikes, compared to Whittaker’s 100. He also accumulated more than nine minutes of control time, either on the cage or on the ground. In the second round, he hurt Whittaker with knee strikes, causing him to bleed from the mouth and nose 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 won the last two rounds. De Ridder is known for his grappling ability, with 14 of his 21 professional victories achieved by submission. He attempted takedowns at various points in the fight, but Whittaker defended well 13 of 15 attempts. 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. In January, he submitted Kevin Holland, and then knocked out the promising Bo Nickal in May to get his main event in UFC. For Whittaker, 34, this is the first time he has lost consecutive fights since 2013. He lost by submission to Khamzat Chimaev in October. Immediately after the fight, De Ridder requested a title opportunity 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, with heavy hands.
Reinier de Ridder
I don’t want to fight anyone like this man again. It 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
