Latest news with #ReinerDeRidder
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
UFC analyst says Robert Whittaker's title days over after UFC on ABC 9 loss
Din Thomas was impressed with the fighting spirit of Robert Whittaker at UFC on ABC 9, but can't overlook the negative career impact of the result against Reiner de Ridder. Thomas was on-site Saturday in Abu Dhabi serving as the broadcast analyst when former middleweight champion Whittaker (26-9 MMA, 17-7 UFC) suffered a split decision loss to de Ridder (20-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at Etihad Arena. It was a competitive battle with both men getting hurt at moments and fighting hard until the end, and two of three judges had it for the former two-division ONE Championship titleholder. At could've been a deflating moment for Whittaker, who lost consecutive fights for the first time since 2014. Instead, he only said he was "butt hurt" about what happened then left the octagon with no further excuses. And Thomas likes what he saw in that moment. "Even when the result was read and he lost, he still seemed to be in a good place," Thomas told MMA Junkie. "I like this for Robert Whittaker because he's not sour, he didn't seem like he was complaining and he wasn't pointing fingers at anybody. He knew what he was in with that fight and he knew it was a tough fight, he knew it wasn't a dominant performance so neither fighter could complain either way. "I was really impressed with Robert Whittaker his ability to withstand those hard times in the fight and have a lot of positivity left a lot of confidence in his ability to win. ... In the trenches in this fight, Robert Whittaker still seemed to be able to bounce back, and I liked that. I thought it was inspiring." Despite his commendable performance, results are almost always the ultimate dictator in the UFC, and now Whittaker's record shows four losses in his past seven fights, albeit to elite competition. At 34, Whittaker has logged more than four hours of total fight time during his run at 185 pounds. It's a crossroads moment going forward, and with the top of the division being as intruiging as ever, Thomas said it would be a good time for Whittaker to drop down in rankings and fight someone who will truly serve as a barometer. "I think you give him Roman Kopylov," Thomas said. "I think you give him Kopylov before you start feeding him to the guys. Before we say, 'We're done with you and we're going to start feeding you.' Because Kopylov is somewhere in the back of the rankings. You give him Kopylov to say, 'We're giving you No. 15 and if you win that we keep you up here. We'll keep you fighting these guys. But if you lose that, now you've got to fight the up-and-comers.'" Fighting up-and-comers is surely a far cry from what Whittaker wants to do, but Thomas said it's not an easy spot. "The Reaper" needs a victory to keep his head above water with the emerging contenders, but as far as the pre-fight plans he expressed to have a "fairytale end" to his career with UFC gold? Thomas said that seems like a long shot. "No, if I had to bet I wouldn't assume he gets there," Thomas said. "It's interesting though because he said he had a four-fight plan to get back to a title. Now it looks like it's going to take about four fights. With a win over RDR it would've of been less than four fights." To hear more from Thomas, check out his complete appearance on "The Bohnfire" podcast with MMA Junkie senior reporter Mike Bohn above. This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC analyst: Robert Whittaker's title days over after Abu Dhabi loss
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
‘Pretty butthurt': Rob Whittaker gutted after narrow UFC loss
Robert Whittaker's bid to be UFC champion again has copped a major blow after he was narrowly beaten by Reiner de Ridder on Sunday morning (AEST). The Australian and Dutchman went the full 25 minutes in an entertaining fight at UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi, but de Ridder was given the split decision victory (48-47 x 2, 47-48). It's a third victory of the year for 'RDR' following wins over Kevin Holland and Bo Nickal. It looked like Whittaker might get the victory when he secured a take-down with a brutal right-hand punch and unleashed some heavy blows on de Ridder early in the fourth round. But de Ridder avoided a stoppage and recovered to land some heavy blows of his own, leaving Whittaker's nose bloodied, as the Aussie tired in the later rounds. Watch the highlights from Whittaker vs RDR in the video above It was a very close fight, and Whittaker was understandably gutted when the scorecards narrowly went against him as de Ridder claimed his fourth consecutive win. 'Pretty butt hurt to be honest,' Whittaker said in the Octogan. 'He did what he said he was going to do. I thought I ticked all the boxes, but the pressure was a lot. 'He has a lot of skill sets. He's got a particular way of fighting. I couldn't really throw too many spanners in the works. 'He got it off more times than not and walked away a winner, good on him.' A former UFC middleweight champion, Whittaker's record is now 26-9, and he faces a tough road back to a title fight after losses to de Ridder and Khamzat Chimaev last year. De Ridder's record is now 21-2, and he has earned the right to fight some of the biggest names in the middleweight division, calling out Chimaev after the win over Whittaker. De Ridder said: 'I don't want to fight like this. This guy was too tough. I want to finish a guy in the first round, that. 'I expected to take him down and choke him out, but he was amazing. So tough, so durable, heavy f***ing hands. Asked who he wanted to fight next, de Ridder said: 'Maybe Khamzat, Dricus (du Plessis) next. Let's go, give me a chance to fight for that strap.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
UFC Abu Dhabi's Robert Whittaker has been the hunter and the hunted. Now he's both
When Robert Whittaker broke through to win the UFC middleweight title in 2017, it was a different division than it is now. He was just 26 years old at the time, and the staples were a rogue's lineup of elder statesmen. There were the former champions, Luke Rockhold (32), Chris Weidman (33) and Anderson Silva, though at 42 the division's GOAT was watching the sun go down. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza (37) was still around, and Yoel Romero had just turned 40. The Cinderella of the group, Michael Bisping (38), held the title for a brief minute with one good eye. The teeth were long at 185 pounds in 2017, and Whittaker was the young gun coming for blood. These days it's his blood they are coming for. 'I've been in the sport for a long time, and I feel that I've got a couple more years left in me,' Whittaker, now 34, told Uncrowned. 'I'm fortunate that I'm at the tail end of my career, but I'm still young enough to have had all the experience of the fights — everything kind of just accumulating into what I am now, if that makes sense. But I also see the light at the end of the tunnel. 'I'm looking forward to just that last sprint toward greatness and then spending more time with my kids.' Whittaker fights Reiner de Ridder this Saturday in Abu Dhabi, his ninth headlining bout in the UFC. He has fought in three official title bouts, though 2018's Romero rematch would've made it four had the Cuban made weight. Not to use the word lightly, but Whittaker has stood in there long enough to distinguish himself a warrior over the past decade. He's been through brutal wars against Romero that became instant classics, fights that showed the MMA world the depths he was willing to go. He has tamped down would-be contenders with doses of real-time reality, sending Darren Till and Marvin Vettori back to the proverbial drawing boards. We've seen him lose to Israel Adesanya twice, each time only making him more beloved in the eyes of fight fans. These days they sometimes train together. And when Khamzat Chimaev fell out of his scheduled fight in the summer of 2024, Whittaker coldly dished out a knockout against Chimaev's stand-in, Ikram Aliskerov, with one of the fight game's favorite declarations. There are levels. 'I'm very happy with what I've accomplished and what I've achieved in the game,' he says. 'I've climbed every mountain, experienced the highs and the lows of the game, and I've done a lot of good work towards the athletes where I live, towards the sport where I live. I think I've opened a lot of people's eyes that normally wouldn't have happened. So yeah, I'm very happy. I'm very proud of what I've done. 'And I'm not quite done yet.' Of course, Whittaker's native Australia loves him. New Zealand loves him. His Mãori ancestors pack into his lore. He is a national treasure in that part of the world. A pro's pro, and a fighter's fighter. An inspiration to one of the most passionate MMA scenes in the world. He had a nickname for many years of "The Reaper,' which was a little too Blue Öyster Cult for refined tastes. My colleagues Ben Fowlkes and Chad Dundas rechristened him 'Bobby Knuckles' when he was holding the belt, and he has over the years warmed to the designation. "Bobby Knuckles" has a certain ring to it. And when "Bobby Knuckles" says he's not done yet, he means that he wants to make another run at the title — something all the aforementioned names from 2017 had in mind at this juncture of their careers. This time Whittaker, whose name still carries a lot of juice, is being billed as the hunted. Yet in his mind it's the other way around. 'Getting that gold back — that's the ambition right now,' he says. 'To work my way back to the title, get the title, and sail off into the sunset.' In de Ridder, he is facing a hot-rolling UFC newcomer who is 3-0 since debuting this past November against Gerald Meerschaert. Since then, in the span of eight months, "RDR" has choked out Kevin Holland and demystified Bo Nickal, the latter an eye-opening fight that launched de Ridder into Whittaker's stratosphere. Though he is a new face in the UFC, the Dutch fighter is a former two-division champion at ONE Championship with plenty of experience. 'If you know who he is, he's done work,' Whittaker says. 'He's been two-time champion, other divisions, he's been around. He's as experienced as I am, so I need to take that with the respect that deserves going in there against another vet. He's very good at what he does, very good at his craft. It's going to be a hard fight, but I've been working diligently for it and look forward to putting on a show.' BetMGM has Whittaker as a slight favorite for the fight, though he might've been a bigger one had the last visual not been such a tough one to take. The image of Chimaev getting Whittaker in his clutches remains. The face crank. The face turning red. The immediate tap. The X-ray with the row of displaced teeth, that alarmed so many to behold such an unnatural sight. 'I got rid of them,' Whittaker says simply of those dislodged teeth, as if any trauma was extracted at the dentist's office. 'That's over. No weakness.' This is Whittaker in the twilight of his own career. He's been the dude who was coming for the older guys, the experienced, brand-name champions who were in his way in the mid-2010s. Now he's in the way. 'I don't know if the middleweight division is better now, it's different,' he says. 'But this new wave of fighters, man, their skill sets are so complete. They have it all. They started jiu-jitsu from when they were young. They were doing boxing from when they were young. They've been doing it from teens, from kids. They've been training for this sport. 'And yeah, you can see the skill level of the top guys really start to stand out.' That's what Whittaker says out loud, though in the Octagon he'll have something else to say about it.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Kansas baseball player Michael Brooks shares his thoughts on team's success in 2025
Bo Nickal believes he is more than ready for what could be toughest MMA challenge to date UFC on ESPN 67's Bo Nickal spoke to reporters at media day for his bout vs. Reiner de Ridder on Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa.
