Reinier de Ridder has gotten off to a great start to his UFC career and will look to enter the title conversation this weekend when he faces his toughest challenge to date in former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.
The 34-year-old from the Netherlands is 3-0 in the UFC over the past 8.5 months, with two submission wins and one technical knockout, but a win over an experienced former champion like Whittaker would make de Ridder the clear dark horse contender in the division.
Saturday’s Fight Night event takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi and will mark de Ridder’s first UFC main event and his first scheduled five-round fight with the promotion, even though he doesn’t expect the judges will be needed.
“I don’t plan on it going five rounds if I have anything to say (about it),” de Ridder told Sportsnet’s Aaron Bronsteter earlier this week.
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UFC on Sportsnet
Middleweights Robert Whittaker and Reinier de Ridder headline the UFC’s return to Abu Dhabi. Watch UFC Fight Night action on Saturday, July 26 on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet+ with main card coverage beginning at 3 p.m. ET / Noon PT.
De Ridder holds a 20-2 record in MMA and was a two-weight titleholder in ONE Championship at 205 pounds and at heavyweight before losing both of his belts to Anatoly Malykhin in back-to-back contests. De Ridder has bounced around at different weights throughout his career but has never lost when competing as a middleweight.
After leaving ONE in 2024 following his losses to Malykhin, de Ridder got back in the win column with a TKO of Magomedmurad Khasaev at light-heavyweight in the UAE Warriors organization one year ago before signing with the UFC this past September and returning to the 185-pound division.
De Ridder debuted in the UFC with a submission win over fellow grappling specialist Gerald Meerschaert in November and has stayed hot in 2025. He began the year with a first-round submission win over Kevin Holland and is coming off a highlight stoppage of Bo Nickal in May.
“I have been very dedicated to the weight cut so I don’t have to cut as much at the last moment this time as I did in the Bo Nickal fight,” de Ridder explained. “I’ve been doing all the work, doing a lot of extra rounds after training.”
De Ridder currently sits at No. 13 in the middleweight rankings and said he studied a lot of tape on Whittaker early in his training camp to lay the groundwork for a game plan.
There’s certainly no shortage of tape to study when it comes to Whittaker. The No. 5-ranked contender is one of the most experienced fighters on the UFC roster with 4:02:21 of in-cage fight time over his 18-fight UFC tenure.
Saturday’s bout will mark Whittaker’s first fight of 2025 and his first fight since a first-round defeat to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 last October. A brutal face crank submission from Chimaev caused significant dental damage to the 34-year-old, who needed multiple teeth removed afterwards.
Prior to that loss, Whittaker was coming off a first-round knockout of Ikram Aliskerov, another rising contender looking to make a name off Whittaker and leapfrog the former champ in the rankings.
De Ridder has been training out of Kill Cliff FC in Florida and said he has plenty of training partners who have been mimicking Whittaker’s karate-style striking base.
One of de Ridder’s main training partners, and one who’ll be in his corner this weekend, is fellow former two-weight ONE champ Aung La Nsang. In fact, that’s who de Ridder defeated to win both of his ONE titles, and the two have since become teammates.
Whittaker would appear to have an advantage over de Ridder in the striking department, although if the fight gets to the ground, Whittaker will be in de Ridder’s world.
Barriault facing tough test: Canadian Marc-André Barriault snapped a three-fight skid earlier this year with a massive knockout win in his home province at UFC 315 in May, but is the biggest listed underdog on the card this week. He is going up against striking specialist Shara Magomedov, who’s looking to bounce back from his first pro loss, a decision to Michael Page in February. The last time Magomedov fought in Abu Dhabi, he won his fight with a double-spinning backfist knockout of Armen Petrosyan.
McGhee faces biggest challenge to date: Whittaker isn’t the only former UFC champ on the card, as former two-time bantamweight titleholder Petr Yan is set to return for the first time in eight months. Yan will look to extend his winning streak to three in a row when he faces Marcus McGhee. The 35-year-old American is 4-0 in the UFC and taking a massive step-up in competition in Yan, who went 2-0 in 2024 with wins over Song Yadong and Deiveson Figueiredo. The 32-year-old Russian is ranked No. 3 at 135 pounds while McGhee is at No. 12.
Mitchell debuting at bantamweight: Bryce Mitchell made the decision to drop down from 145 pounds to 135 pounds following his one-sided loss to Jean Silva earlier this year. His first bantamweight opponent is Said Nurmagomedov, who has dropped two of his past three. If Mitchell looks good at his new weight, he could quickly become a factor in the division. Nurmagomedov lost a Fight of the Night in February to No. 13-ranked Vinicius Oliveira in his most recent outing.
Evloev vs. Pico cancelled: The original co-main event for this card was a featherweight contest between unbeaten Movsar Evloev and former Bellator MMA star Aaron Pico. However, an undisclosed injury to Evloev forced the UFC to cancel the matchup. It is unclear if it will be rebooked and, if so, when it will take place.
Below is the projected bout order for the 12-bout UFC Abu Dhabi card:
— Robert Whittaker vs. Reinier de Ridder
— Petr Yan vs. Marcus McGhee
— Shara Magomedov vs. Marc-André Barriault
— Asu Almabayev vs. Jose Ochoa
— Nikita Krylov vs. Bogdan Guskov
— Bryce Mitchell vs. Said Nurmagomedov
— Muslim Salikhov vs. Carlos Leal
— Davey Grant vs. Da’Mon Blackshear
— Amanda Ribas vs. Tabatha Ricci
— Ibo Aslan vs. Billy Elekana
— Mohammad Yahya vs. Steven Nguyen
— Martin Buday vs. Marcus Buchecha
