{"id":25670,"date":"2025-07-26T14:32:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T14:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/25670\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T14:32:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T14:32:13","slug":"ufc-abu-dhabis-reinier-de-ridder-finally-getting-activity-continues-to-bash-former-promotion-its-not-looking-good-for-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/25670\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC Abu Dhabi\u2019s Reinier de Ridder finally \u2018getting activity,\u2019 continues to bash former promotion: \u2018It\u2019s not looking good for ONE\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reinier de Ridder is entering the biggest fight of his career when he meets Robert Whittaker in the main event later today (Sat., July 26, 2025) at UFC Abu Dhabi LIVE on ABC\/ESPN+<\/a> from inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, but when it\u2019s all said and done \u201cThe Dutch Knight\u201d is just happy to be an active fighter.<\/p>\n

Before his crossover to UFC, de Ridder was one of the biggest stars competing for ONE Championship. At one time, RDR held belts in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, making him one of the most sought after fighters in mixed martial arts (MMA) not competing under the UFC banner. De Ridder did end his ONE run with back-to-back losses to knockout sensation Anatoly Malykhin, but his overall MMA stock remained high.<\/p>\n

Despite de Ridder\u2019s success under the ONE banner he had a tough time dealing with matchmakers towards the end of his tenure. \u201cDutch Knight\u201d tried to get back in action following his losses to Malykhin, but kept getting dragged along by the promotion. Before he knew it, de Ridder was fighting to part ways with ONE and take his talents somewhere else, even warning other fighters to stay away<\/a> from the organization.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, de Ridder doubled down on his warning to other athletes looking to join the ONE roster. Due in part to the fact that former ONE standout, Marcus Buchecha, is making his Octagon debut this weekend at UFC Abu Dhabi, de Ridder believes ONE is spiraling out of control.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s looking for good for us but not looking good for ONE at the moment,\u201d de Ridder told MMA Fighting<\/a>. \u201cUnfortunately you are right but we\u2019ll see how they bounce back hopefully but I\u2019m not sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Buchecha, [we\u2019ve] been putting in a lot of work together as well here in Florida. It will be cool to share a card with him. So happy for that guy that he\u2019s finally free as well, finally able to get fights, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately for de Ridder, he has joined a promotion in UFC that rewards fighters who want to stay active. This weekend\u2019s matchup with Whittaker will be de Ridder\u2019s fourth trip to the Octagon since his official debut in Nov. 2024. That\u2019s a lot of action for any fighter, but something that \u201cDutch Knight\u201d ultimately asked for.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe careful what you wish for maybe,\u201d said de Ridder about himself. \u201cBecause that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been asking for years is activity and I\u2019m getting activity. This is going to be my fifth fight in a year. When I fight it will be exactly one year since I fought for UAE Warriors here in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all came together very quickly but I\u2019ve been settling down in Florida more so I found a house, I found a place to stay full time. My kids are going to go to school there so I\u2019m thinking of doing more activity next year as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n


\n LIVE! Stream UFC Abu Dhabi On ESPN+
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

MIDDLEWEIGHT MAYHEM!<\/a> Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to Etihad Arena on \u201cFight Island\u201d this Sat. night (July 26, 2025) with UFC Abu Dhabi<\/a>. That\u2019s where former middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker, collides with red-hot submission specialist, Reinier de Ridder, in a fast-paced main event mashup scheduled for five, five-minute rounds. In UFC Abu Dhabi\u2019s co-main event, former 135-pound titleholder, Petr Yan, locks horns with once-beaten bantamweight bruiser, Marcus McGhee, with a spot in the division title chase up for grabs.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss a single second of face-punching action!<\/a><\/p>\n

MMAmania.com<\/a> will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Abu Dhabi fight card RIGHT HERE<\/a>, starting with the ESPN\/ESPN+<\/a> preliminary card matchups, which are scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining main card balance on ABC\/ESPN+<\/a> at 3 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Abu Dhabi news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archives here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>. For the updated and finalized \u201cWhittaker vs. De Ridder\u201d fight card and ABC\/ESPN+<\/a> lineup click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reinier de Ridder is entering the biggest fight of his career when he meets Robert Whittaker in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[4639,20796,20798,49,48,2185,20797,698,4640,641,20794,693,1995,700,20795,4453,2182,701,19854,638,2184,5348,13019,20799,14902,20793,17054,694,82,696,640,702],"class_list":["post-25670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-abu","tag-activity","tag-bash","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-com","tag-continues","tag-de","tag-dhabi","tag-fighting","tag-finally","tag-for","tag-former","tag-front-page","tag-getting","tag-good","tag-it","tag-latest-news","tag-looking","tag-mma","tag-mmamania","tag-not","tag-one","tag-one-fc-championship-results-news-videos-mma","tag-promotion","tag-reinier","tag-ridder","tag-s","tag-sports","tag-to","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}