The middleweight division is under spotlight, and Reinier de Ridder positioned himself for a big fight after UFC Abu Dhabi.

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 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.

Reinier de Ridder had a quick comeback when hearing of Paulo Costa's negative review of his UFC Abu Dhabi win.

The latest UFC Fight Night event was held in Abu Dhabi and was headlined by a middleweight clash between Robert Whittaker and Reinier De Ridder.

De Ridder earned a crack at Whittaker after he knocked out highly-touted wrestler Bo Nickal with a knee to the body at UFC Des Moines in May. This was Nickal’s first UFC loss, with many fans claiming he had been ‘fraud checked’.

In the UFC on ABC 9 main event Saturday, de Ridder (21-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) defeated former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (26-9 MMA, 17-7 UFC) over five rounds. The decision was a split set of 48-47 scorecards. The event took place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Reinier de Ridder managed to squeak past former UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker Saturday in Abu Dhabi.

Now 34, Whittaker has been with the UFC since 2012 and was its champion for nearly two full years from 2017 to 2019 before he was TKO'd by Israel Adesanya at UFC 243 in Melbourne,