{"id":27940,"date":"2025-07-27T22:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T22:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/27940\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T22:56:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T22:56:08","slug":"mick-maynards-shoes-whats-next-for-reinier-de-ridder-after-ufc-on-abc-9-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/27940\/","title":{"rendered":"Mick Maynard&#8217;s Shoes: What&#8217;s next for Reinier de Ridder after UFC on ABC 9 win?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reinier de Ridder is in a strong position in the middleweight division after beating a former UFC champion for the first time in Robert Whittaker on Saturday at <a href=\"https:\/\/mmajunkie.usatoday.com\/events\/ufc-fight-night-abu-dhabi-july-26-2025\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:UFC on ABC 9;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">UFC on ABC 9<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>De Ridder (20-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) got <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/article\/ufc-abc-9-results-reinier-222226750.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:the split decision nod;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the split decision nod<\/a> over Whittaker (26-9 MMA, 17-7 UFC) at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, to continue his whirlwind run since joining the organization in September.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The former two-division ONE Championship titleholder has met every challenge matchmakers have put in front of him, and with the 185-pound title on the line between Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC 319 headliner on Aug. 16 in Chicago, he&#8217;s among the frontrunners to face the winner.<\/p>\n<p>Should de Ridder get a title shot off the back of beating Whittaker in a decision that <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/article\/rob-won-fighters-react-reinier-220751243.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:some felt was unjust;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">some felt was unjust<\/a>? Watch the video above for thoughts and analysis on his future after UFC on ABC 9.<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: <a href=\"https:\/\/mmajunkie.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/ufc\/2025\/07\/27\/ufc-abu-dhabi-matchmaker-whos-next-for-reinier-de-ridder-after-win\/85392038007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:UFC Abu Dhabi matchmaker: Who&#039;s next for Reinier de Ridder after win?;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">UFC Abu Dhabi matchmaker: Who&#8217;s next for Reinier de Ridder after win?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reinier de Ridder is in a strong position in the middleweight division after beating a former UFC champion&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[2226,49,48,15958,17724,641,5899,638,15957,15959,82,640,22067],"class_list":{"0":"post-27940","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-abu-dhabi","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-de-ridder","12":"tag-dricus-du-plessis","13":"tag-fighting","14":"tag-khamzat-chimaev","15":"tag-mma","16":"tag-reinier-de-ridder","17":"tag-robert-whittaker","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-ufc","20":"tag-yas-island"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27940","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=27940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}