De Ridder Triumphs Over Whittaker at UFC Fight Night

Reinier de Ridder secured the most significant victory of his UFC career, defeating Robert Whittaker in the headline event of UFC Fight Night, held at the Etihad Arena this Saturday.

Judges Ben Cartlidge and David Lethaby both scored the match 48-47 in favor of De Ridder, while Mike Bell, the third judge, gave Whittaker a score of 48-47.

Despite Whittaker achieving a notable knockdown in the third round, De Ridder swiftly rebounded and ultimately dominated the statistical aspects of the fight.

De Ridder successfully landed a total of 192 strikes, significantly outpacing Whittaker’s 70. Furthermore, de Ridder executed two successful takedowns.

De Ridder expressed respect for his adversary, acknowledging his intention to take him down but recognizing Whittaker’s impressive performance.

“I anticipated taking him down and securing a chokehold. He proved to be amazing – incredibly resilient, exceptionally durable, and possessing formidable striking power,” De Ridder commented.

The Dutch fighter advanced further within the middleweight division rankings, marking his fourth consecutive win in the UFC and his fifth straight MMA victory.

In other main card action, Bogdan Guskov defeated Nikita Krylov. Petr Yan emerged victorious against Marcus McGhee via unanimous decision in their bantamweight bout.

Shara Magomedov, competing in the middleweight division, rebounded from his initial professional defeat against Michael Page in February by securing a unanimous decision victory over Marc-Andre Barriault. All three judges scored the fight 30-27 in favor of Magomedov.

During the prelims, Muslim Salikhov delivered the night’s highlight, knocking out Carlos Leal within a mere 42 seconds during their welterweight match.