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Top UFC middleweight who fought Robert Whittaker predicts Reinier de Ridder matchup

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow
By Christopher De Santiago | Last updated Jul 25, 2025 7:19 PM ET

Robert Whittaker vs. Reinier de Ridder is one of the biggest middleweight fights of the year.

Former UFC Champion Robert Whittaker meets former ONE two-division champion Reinier de Ridder in the headliner of UFC Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

This marks de Ridder’s first main event in the UFC. The Netherlands’ De Ridder (20-2) signed to the premier promotion last year, going 3-0 against Bo Nickal, Kevin Holland and Gerald Meerschaert.

De Ridder faces a massive step up in competition against the #5-ranked Whittaker, who has only lost to current champ Dricus du Plessis, Israel Adesanya, and the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev.

When it’s all said and done, Whittaker will go down as one of the greatest middleweights of all time, with wins over Yoel Romero, Jared Cannonier, Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori and Darren Till—all former title challengers.

One of Whittaker’s former foes has given his thoughts for how Whittaker vs. de Ridder goes down.

Jared Cannonier predicts Robert Whittaker to beat Reinier de Ridder at UFC Abu Dhabi

One-time UFC title challenger Jared Cannonier fought Whittaker in a title eliminator of sorts at UFC 254 in 2020.

Whittaker nearly finished the top contender, but Cannonier survived to see the distance, even with a broken arm.

When asked for his prediction on the UFC Abu Dhabi main event, Cannonier says he’s leaning toward the former champ Whittaker to get his hand raised.

“That’s tough… it’s still hard for me to go against Whittaker,” Cannonier told Matt Serra on UFC Unfiltered.

“I think as a martial artist, he’s still a great fighter,” Cannonier said of Whittaker.

“I think he’s had, like, his last fight didn’t really go necessarily the way he wanted to, and that could happen to anybody, I guess. He had some preexisting conditions to contribute to the severity of the injury,” Cannonier said of Whittaker’s jaw-break in his last fight against Chimaev.

“Before that, it was what? Du Plessis?”

Whittaker defeated Paulo Costa and Ikram Aliskerov in between his losses to du Plessis and Chimaev.

“I think Whittaker is gonna best him this weekend,” Cannonier predicted.

Reinier de Ridder could crack top 5 in fourth UFC fight

Former two-division champion de Ridder is a slight underdog in his first UFC main event against Whittaker.

The 34-year-old has had a great start to his UFC career and now, de Ridder has the chance to enter the title conversation with a win over Whittaker.

While the upcoming UFC Paris headliner between top contenders Nasourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho will likely decide who gets the next title shot, de Ridder won’t be far behind in line, should he prevail this weekend.

It’s worth noting du Plessis and Chimaev, the next middleweight title fight, received their first title opportunity after finishing Whittaker.

This article first appeared on Bloody Elbow and was syndicated with permission.

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