Review by AllTheBestFights.com: 2025-07-26, some good exchanges but it is not enough to get three stars: the mma bout Robert Whittaker vs Reinier de Ridder gets two.de Ridder vs Whittaker is scheduled to take place Saturday, July 26th, at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), in a 5-round middleweight (185 lbs, 84 kg) bout; it is the main event of the UFC on ABC 9 (also known as UFC Abu Dhabi). Watch the video and rate this fight!
Robert Whittaker record
The black belt in hapkido, karate, bjj, Tuf Ww tournament winner and former Ufc Mw champion Robert Whittaker entered this fight with a professional mma record of 26-8-0 (58% finishing rate) and he is ranked as the No.7 middleweight in the world.
In his last three fights he has beat Paulo Costa (Robert Whittaker vs Paulo Costa) and Ikram Aliskerov (Robert Whittaker vs Ikram Aliskerov) but then he has lost to Khamzat Chimaev (Khamzat Chimaev vs Robert Whittaker).
But if you want to watch Whittaker’s best fights, here is one match ranked in the top 10 Users’ mma Fights of the Year 2020: Robert Whittaker vs Jared Cannonier.
Reinier de Ridder record
His opponent, the black belt in judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, former ONE Mw and light-Hw champ Reinier de Ridder, has an official record of 20-2-0 (90% finishing rate) and he entered as the No.17 in the middleweight division.
He lost two consecutive fights between 2022 and 2024, both against Anatoliy Malykhin (a href=”https://allthebestfights.com/de-ridder-vs-malykhin-full-fight-video-one-prime-video-5/” title=”de Ridder vs Malykhin full fight video”>Reinier de Ridder vs Anatoliy Malykhin I and Reinier de Ridder vs Anatoliy Malykhin II), but then he has won four bouts, the last two against Kevin Holland (Kevin Holland vs Reinier de Ridder) and Bo Nickal (Reinier de Ridder vs Bo Nickal).
Fight card
Here is the UFC on ABC 9 full fight card (we are going to update it after the weigh-in):
MAIN CARD (live on ABC / ESPN+)
Robert Whittaker vs Reinier de Ridder
Petr Yan vs Marcus McGhee
Sharabutdin Magomedov vs Marc-Andre Barriault
Asu Almabayev vs Jose Ochoa
Bogdan Guskov vs Nikita Krylov
PRELIMINARY CARD (live on ESPN / ESPN+)
Bryce Mitchell vs Said Nurmagomedov
Carlos Leal vs Muslim Salikhov
DaMon Blackshear vs Davey Grant
Tabatha Ricci vs Amanda Ribas
Ibo Aslan vs Billy Elekana
Mohammad Yahya vs Steven Nguyen
Marcus Almeida vs Martin Buday
Pre-fight press conference
Watch for free the UFC on ABC 9 pre-fight press conference, featuring Reinier de Ridder and Robert Whittaker!
Weigh-in
Watch the videos of UFC on ABC 9: Whittaker vs de Ridder weigh-in and faceoffs from the official Ufc Youtube channel!
Full fight video / highlights
Here we are going to post a selection of the best videos about the bout Robert Whittaker vs Reinier de Ridder as soon as the match ends. If you have seen the full fight you can rate it at the bottom of this post. (All videos are hosted on free video platforms such as Youtube, Dailymotion, Facebook, etc. and not uploaded by AllTheBestFights.com)
Result
Who won Whittaker vs de Ridder fight?
Reinier de Ridder defeated Robert Whittaker via split decision. Scores were 47–48, 48–47, 48–47).
Post-fight interview
Listen the words of the winner or the two fighters after their bout, here is the UFC on ABC 9 post-fight octagon interview of Robert Whittaker and Reinier de Ridder.
Post-fight press conference
Watch and listen the official UFC on ABC 9 post-fight press conference video, headlined by the main event Reinier de Ridder and Robert Whittaker (free live stream from the UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship Youtube channel).
Bonus awards
UFC on ABC 9 Fight of the Night: Sharabutdin Magomedov vs. Marc-André Barriault
UFC on ABC 9 Performance of the Night: Muslim Salikhov, Steven Nguyen
