This past Saturday in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi, we saw a big time matchup in the middleweight division. Former champion Robert Whittaker (26-9) was taking on the surging top contender and former ONE champion Reinier De Ridder (21-2).
This was a big step up for RDR who made the walk on Saturday night ranked 13th in the middleweight division. While he definitely impressed me with his win over Bo Nickal in May, Robert Whittaker was a big step up. That said, I was incredibly impressed with De Ridder on Saturday.
De Ridder was able to use a steady amount of forward pressure along with his superior grappling and knees to really get the better of Whittaker in a few rounds. De Ridder hurt Whittaker to the body with knees and was really looking to do damage later in the fight, but then Whittaker landed a huge overhand right that dropped him.
De Ridder recovered and entering the fifth round, I had the fight 38-38. In the end, I felt that RDR did a little more in the final round to earn the win at UFC Abu Dhabi. Two of the three judges did as well and he earned a big split decision that puts him right in the title picture.
What’s next after UFC Abu Dhabi?
In his post-fight interview, De Ridder called for a potential title shot after the win and honestly, I don’t think he’s far off in thinking he should get one. The UFC rankings just updated and RDR is coming in at fifth in the updated rankings. While he’s behind Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland in the rankings, I think he’s ahead of them in the title picture.
Now, he’s not going to get the next shot at the title. In a few weeks, Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev will fight for the UFC middleweight title and just a few weeks after that, Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho will headline UFC Paris and that fight will likely determine the next title challenger.
With that, RDR is going to need one more win. My guess is that he’ll fight before the year is over and I think there is going to be a fight that will materialize for him in the next couple of weeks. If I was doing matchmaking for the UFC, I would pair RDR up with the winner of Anthony Hernandez – Roman Dolidze. Then the winner of that could challenge the winner of the next middleweight title fight which will take place in early 2026.
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