Robert Whittaker thought he did enough to win against Reinier de Ridder in the UFC on ABC 9 main event, but two judges disagreed.
Former middleweight champion Whittaker (26-9 MMA, 17-7 UFC) suffered a split decision defeat to de Ridder (21-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, marked the first time in more than 11 years that he’s lost consecutive fights inside the octagon.
It was a tense battle over the course of 25 minutes, with de Ridder landing a lot of powerful shots and finding some success with his grappling, while Whittaker was consistent and had the biggest moment of the fight with a thrilling knockdown and near-finish in Round 3.
Ultimately it wasn’t enough to sway all the scorecards in his favor, and although Whittaker accepted his reality in the immediate aftermath, he expressed that his immediate feeling were that he should’ve won.
“I’m pretty butt hurt to be honest,” Whittaker said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping inside the octagon. “He did what he said he was going to do. I thought I ticked all the boxes, but his pressure was a lot. Mate, it was just a lot of pressure. He has a lot of skillsets. I mentioned it before, he’s got a particular way of fighting. Couldn’t really throw too many spammers. He got it off more times than not and walked away the winner. Good on him.”
Whittaker, 34, is left in a curious spot in the aftermath of UFC on ABC 9. It’s his first time since moving up to middleweight more than a decade ago that he’s dropped consecutive bouts, with this result following a Submission of the Year defeat to Khamzat Chimaev in October.
Prior to UFC on ABC 9, Whittaker voiced his intention to make one more run at the 185-pound belt before retirement. Although there’s an argument to be made he deserved the win over de Ridder, his record shows a loss and he now faces some difficult questions.
