Former UFC middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker, will defend his spot in the division Top 5 when he collides with red-hot submission specialist, Reinier de Ridder, atop the upcoming UFC Abu Dhabi MMA event on both ESPN and ABC, recently made official for Sat., July 26, 2025 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Whittaker opened as the -175 betting favorite, according to BetOnline.ag, against +150 for the underdog, De Ridder. Don’t be surprised to see those numbers change — or flip completely — as we get closer to fight night. Elsewhere on the card, Shara Magomedov is the -260 favorite over Marc-Andre Barriault (+220).
“I understand he’s not in the top 10 yet, but he just beat Bo Nickal, he’s a good, hard fight, he had two titles in ONE, he’s a hard fight,” Whittaker said on his MMArcade podcast. “I’m sure he’ll be in the Top 10 before long. He’s a top 10 fighter, competitor at least. That’s a hard fight, let’s do it. July is a good time, done. So, I just said yes straight away.”
Whittaker (26-8) is looking to rebound from his first-round submission loss to middleweight title challenger Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 back in October. As for De Ridder (20-2), also 34, he improved to 3-0 under the UFC banner by stopping wrestling phenom Bo Nickal at UFC Des Moines earlier this month in Iowa.
“I want to get back in there, back in that winning column,” Whittaker continued. “I don’t want to fight forever. I’ve got a couple years left in my career and I want that fairytale ending. Especially after seeing [Alexander Volkanovski], and now [Jack Della Maddalena] get up, I want that fairytale ending. I want to work my way up to the title, win the belt, and sail off into the sunset. That’s the dream I’m pushing and fighting for right now.”
Expect more UFC Abu Dhabi fight card announcements in the coming weeks.
