UFC has confirmed the competition between Robert Whittaker and Reinier de Ridder. Accordingly, this pair will take place on July 27, at the UFC Fight Night event in Abu Dhabi, UAE. This is also the focal match of the event and was first confirmed to the public.
At the present time, the former UFC Champion of Middleweight Robert Whittaker is ranked 5th.
In the past, Reinier de Ridder was once the leading boxer of One Championship. He played in One from 2019 to the beginning of 2024. This is the time when Reinier de Ridder reached the world, when he kept the MMA championship in two weight classes Middleweight and Light Heavyweight.
After losing both championships to Anatoly Malykhin, Reinier de Ridder decided to leave One Championship. Not long after that, Mr. Dat agreed to join UFC. Reinier de Ridder launched UFC since the end of 2024, and since then he has had 3 wins.
A remarkable detail is that all three victories of Reinier de Ridder are early matches. That helped him to advance soon on UFC's rankings. If Reinier de Ridder surpassed Robert Whittaker, he could be ranked in the end of 2024, early 2025.