It was a grueling and competitive fight, but de Ridder felt comfortable in winning three out of the five rounds they competed in. He was confident all three judges would agree with him, however, only two judges did,

Reinier de Ridder narrowly defeats Robert Whittaker via split decision in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi.

Whittaker, who owned UFC’s middleweight crown in 2017-18, has endured more than his share of injuries during his remarkable journey.