Reinier De Ridder Will Earn a Shot At the UFC Crown By Submitting Robert Whittaker
Reinier De Ridder was a titleholder across two divisions in his ONE Championship tenure, and he feels like he can vault himself toward a UFC title shot if he halts a former UFC champion this weekend. RDR takes on the stiffest test of his promotional tenure so far when he takes on former UFC middleweight titleholder Robert Whittaker at UFC Abu Dhabi on Saturday, July 26th.
The Dutch mixed martial artist took part in a pre-fight interview with a fellow former ONE Championship titleholder in Demetrious Johnson, for the latter’s YouTube channel, Mighty. Discussing his own rapid rate of activity since signing to the UFC while also giving Whittaker his flowers but simultaneously breaking down his envisioned path to victory on Saturday, De Ridder said,
“I fought three times in six to seven months now in UFC, with three finishes. I thrive off being active.”
“Rob Whittaker is a legend, a former champion, and a dangerous opponent. I believe this fight will help me establish my place for a title shot.”
“Robert Whittaker’s last fight was impressive, but that back choke put him in trouble. I plan to pressure him and use my grappling to my advantage.”
Reinier De Ridder has no plans to go the distance against Robert Whittaker
Reinier De Ridder has two submission victories and a TKO so far in his UFC run, and he foresees that trend of avoiding encroaching on that final bell continuing after this weekend. This is his first UFC headliner and first octagon outing to be scheduled for five rounds, but it does not seem like the surging middleweight contender envisions this outing going the full twenty-five minutes.
Speaking to Sportsnet ahead of the high-stakes prizefight, De Ridder stated,
“I don’t plan on it going five rounds if I have anything to say [about it].”
The former light heavyweight and middleweight champion in the ONE circle also mentioned the ease of his weight cut this time out, with De Ridder mentioning he does not have to drop nearly as much weight this time out as compared to the cut RDR had to navigate for his Bo Nickal bout.
