Reinier de Ridder escaped Fight Night with a closely fought split decision win over Robert Whittaker.
UFC Abu Dhabi delivered some incredible action but the main event was a close affair between two absolute warriors.
Now, de Ridder has secured his spot as the next in line for a shot at either Dricus Du Plessis or Khamzat Chimaev depending on the August 16th result.
The Dutchman was advised by Gilbert Burns to take the fight to the mat to beat Whittaker, and while landing some successful takedowns, it was the knee strikes that earned him the victory.
Reinier de Ridder picks up the razor-close split decision over Robert Whittaker
A first round dominated by the ‘Reaper’ saw him blitz in and out of range to land solid jabs followed by right hooks.
But the Dutch combatant utilised a big knee strike to the body to set up some dominant groundwork which kept the Australian at bay.
There was a series of knees by RDR, which was countered with a huge overhand right to knock him to the floor at the beginning of the third.
Another successful takedown in that round may have saved the elite jiu jitsu fighter Ridder, but clearly the knockdown ensured the round went in favour of the former champion.
The final two rounds were close as both men, fatigued, tried to put their stamp on the fight but it was Reinier who caught the eyes of the judges with a succession of knee strikes.
All scores were the same, but two judges had given the fight to the ‘Dutch Knight’ after a hard five rounds.
In his post-fight interview, he credited his opponent and said he was ‘not expecting’ the type of contest which panned out.
UFC fans split over Reinier de Ridder beating Robert Whittaker, with some crying ‘robbery’
A mixed reaction from MMA fans on social media after the close scorecards and some were furious.
This X user wrote: “ABSOLUTE ROBBERY. THERE IS NO CHANCE WHITTAKER LOST THAT FIGHT. SHAMELESS FROM THE UFC JUDGES.”
Another chimed in with agreement with the sentiments of this angry user, writing: “Sheesh. That wasn’t a great fight. But this decision was not a robbery; Whittaker gassed and made it a closer fight than it should have been. He let it get away from him.
“Sucks, but it is what it is.”
But others were not happy with suggestions of a robbery, instead, many felt it was a close fight, which could have gone to either man.
One X user wrote: “48-47 RDR, it was close enough that I can understand someone saying 48-47 Whittaker but calling this a robbery is ridiculous.”
Even a user who scored the bout to Whittaker felt robbery talk was overblown.
He wrote: “Not a robbery, but a bad decision for sure. A pretty clear 3-2 for Whittaker.”
It was clearly a tough defeat to take but the 34-year-old has been backed by fans on X with one writing: “Win or lose I’m always rocking with Robert Whittaker. I’ll enjoy all the fights he has left in this sport.”
The takeaways of this fan may sum up the feelings of the discourse from the fight.
He wrote: “Takeaways from Robert Whittaker vs Reinier de Ridder. 1) Bobby Knuckles still has it! he is a tough opponent for anyone in the division.
“2) RDR’s knees are LETHAL. Rob ate those knees to the body. 3) Khamzat Chimaev made the Rob win look too easy.”
All credit to de Ridder for picking up the win and while it wasn’t the most convincing win, he could still be in title contention.