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 has officially entered the world of the middleweight elite after a grueling battle against Robert Whittaker at UFC Abu Dhabi.

Reinier de Ridder remained undefeated in the UFC with a hard-fought split decision victory over former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in a grueling five-round affair. While he did get absolutely bombed with a punch that knocked him to the ground in the third round,

Robert Whittaker thinks he "ticked all the boxes" to get his hand raised vs. Reinier de Ridder at UFC Abu Dhabi.

Reinier de Ridder picked up the biggest win of his career on Saturday when he took a hard-fought split decision over former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC Fight Night from Abu Dhabi.

UFC middleweight Reinier de Ridder solidified himself as a legitimate title contender in defeating Robert Whittaker by split decision at UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Robert Whittaker is on his first losing skid in more than 11 years after UFC Abu Dhabi, raising questions about his future.

A middleweight clash with title implications headlines UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi. Former UFC champion Robert Whittaker and former two-division ONE Championship king Reinier de Ridder fight weeks before a 185-pound title fight at UFC 319.

Watch Robert Whittaker vs. Reinier de Ridder full fight video highlights for UFC Abu Dhabi main event Saturday.

MMA Junkie's Mike Bohn plays matchmaker and looks ahead to what makes sense for Reinier De Ridder in this edition of "Sean Shelby's Shoes."