Reinier de Ridder picked up the biggest win of his career on Saturday when he took a hard-fought split decision over former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC Fight Night from Abu Dhabi.
Whittaker landed the first punch he threw in the fight, seemingly bothering de Ridder with his power. That did not dissuade de Ridder from attempting to follow through on his standard game plan of working inside and trying to score takedowns.
Whittaker escaped from the first takedown attempt, a deep single-leg. Once they separated back to distance, Whittaker continued to connect with combinations as he rushed in, opening a cut over de Ridder’s left eye. The exchanges reinforced just how big of a gap existed between the two in the striking game.
De Ridder proved to have two solid tools on the feet, landing several good knees and jabs, both tools he was able to utilize thanks to his considerable height and reach advantages. This allowed de Ridder to get the fight to the ground in the second round and land solid ground and pound after Whittaker appeared to be shaken up by a knee to the body.
Whittaker looked tired in his corner after the second round, and de Ridder landed a series of good punches early in the round before Whittaker dropped him with a counter overhand right. De Ridder was able to survive the ensuing flurry on the floor and get back to his feet, and soon after, put Whittaker on his back again, where Whittaker was forced to survive strikes, positional changes and submission attempts.
The final two rounds were a battle between de Ridder’s plan to push Whittaker into the cage and grind, and Whittaker making the most of the moments of separation by landing the better significant strikes.
After the final bell, the fight seemed entirely up in the air, with either man having a valid case for having done enough to edge out a narrow victory.
The final scorecards read 48-47, 47-48 and 48-47, with de Ridder taking the narrow split decision.
“I don’t want to fight like this, man, this guy was too tough,” de Ridder said after the fight. “I want to finish a guy in the first round. … I expected to take him down. He was so tough, so durable. Heavy f—ing hands.”
Despite de Ridder’s wishes to finish a less tough opponent in his next fight, he did suggest a fight with the winner of the UFC 319 championship bout between champ Dricus Du Plessis and challenger Khamzat Chimaev. De Ridder is now 4-0 in the UFC and a win over a former champion makes a good case for a future title shot.
Whittaker admitted he “couldn’t throw enough spanners in the works” of de Ridder’s game plan and now has lost two straight and three of his five most recent fights.
