Robert Whittaker did not expect to draw Reinier de Ridder for his next UFC fight.
Former middleweight champion Whittaker (26-8 MMA, 17-6 UFC) will face De Ridder (20-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) in the UFC on ABC 9 headliner July 26 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Both Whittaker and De Ridder were angling to face Sean Strickland next, but wound up being matched up against each other.
“I told my manager, ‘Speak to them, tell them I’m looking for late June, early July. International Fight Week looks good, let’s get something,'” Whittaker said on his “MMArcade Podcast.” “And I was also kind of mentioning Strickland at the time. We’re both up there, it makes sense, we’ve never fought, let’s get it done. They came back to me and said, ‘Strickland is only just getting back into training. We can try and get that fight to happen, but we don’t know when it’s going to happen, but (Roman) Dolidze is ready and willing.’ I was like, done. Sign me up. Let’s go.
