The UFC is returning to Abu Dhabi on July 26th for a fight night and today, the promotion announced the main event. Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (26-8) is returning and he’ll be taking on top contender Reinier De Ridder (20-2).
This is huge news for De Ridder and it’s a fight that he truly deserves. The former ONE FC two-division champion made his octagon debut last fall and has gone an impressive 3-0 with three finishes. A week ago today, De Ridder halted the hype train of Bo Nickal when he stopped him in the second round at UFC Des Moines. After the fight, he called for a fight with Sean Strickland but I think he’ll be happy with facing another former champion.
For Whittaker, this will be his first fight since his fight against Khamzat Chimaev last October. In that fight, Whittaker was taken down in the first round and Chimaev locked up a rear naked choke which was on the chin and forced Whittaker to tap due to the damage it was doing to his teeth. That loss came on the heels of his quick stoppage win over Ikram Aliskerov. This is a huge fight for the middleweight division.