Reinier de Ridder Hopes UFC Won’t Rebook Robert Whittaker Rematch
Reinier de Ridder does not want the UFC to send him back in with Robert Whittaker now that both men are at light heavyweight. The Dutch veteran said he still feels the speed that made their middleweight meeting so difficult, and he would rather leave that matchup alone for now.
The comments come three days before de Ridder’s 205-pound UFC debut against Roman Dolidze on Saturday at UFC Sacramento. Whittaker has already made the same jump, which is why a rematch is even part of the conversation.
“I hope they don’t propose that. He’s still so quick. It amazed me how quick he was with the 1-2 every time. I had to dig deep so if I can avoid that for awhile I’ll be happy,” de Ridder said.
That first meeting was no easy night. De Ridder edged Whittaker by split decision on July 26, 2025, in the UFC Abu Dhabi main event at Etihad Arena, with scorecards of 47-48, 48-47, and 48-47.
Whittaker dropped him and came close to a finish before de Ridder rallied through five rounds. The win was the biggest of de Ridder’s UFC run at the time and lifted him past a former middleweight champion who had been ranked well above him.
The Dutch fighter entered that bout at No. 13. Whittaker was No. 5.
De Ridder, a former ONE Championship middleweight and light heavyweight titleholder, had been rolling. He submitted Kevin Holland in January 2025, stopped Bo Nickal in May, and then outlasted Whittaker in Abu Dhabi.
The streak did not last. Brendan Allen replaced an injured Anthony Hernandez and stopped de Ridder by TKO at the end of the fourth round on Oct. 18, 2025.
Caio Borralho then beat him by unanimous decision, 30-27 on all three cards, in the co-main event of UFC 326 on March 7 in Las Vegas. Those two losses dropped de Ridder to 21-4 and pushed him out of the middleweight title picture.
He has since said the move to light heavyweight is permanent. Saturday’s bout with Dolidze (15-5) is booked for the main card of UFC Fight Night at Golden 1 Center, with Anthony Hernandez vs. Gregory Rodrigues in the main event.
Whittaker, meanwhile, has already shown that his hands still play at 205. The former UFC middleweight champion stopped Nikita Krylov by TKO at 1:01 of the third round on July 11 at UFC 329, breaking Krylov’s jaw in his light heavyweight debut.
That finish moved Whittaker to 27-9. He is ranked No. 11 in the UFC light heavyweight division.
De Ridder is not ranked at 205 yet because he has not fought there in the UFC. A win over Dolidze would start that climb. A rematch with Whittaker would put him right back in front of the man whose 1-2 still bothers him more than a year later.
That is the point de Ridder is making. He is not calling Whittaker an easy fight he already solved. He is saying the Australian’s speed forced him to survive, and he does not want that test again while he is still trying to reset his career.
The light heavyweight picture around them is crowded. Carlos Ulberg holds the title, with Alex Pereira, Magomed Ankalaev, Jiri Prochazka, Paulo Costa, and Jamahal Hill among the names ahead of Whittaker.
De Ridder is not in that mix yet. Two straight losses at 185 made the jump necessary, and Dolidze is the first assignment in the new division.
Dolidze is a dangerous opener in his own right, a powerful grappler and striker who has also spent time at middleweight. De Ridder is a sizable favorite, but the larger issue is what the UFC does with him if he gets through Saturday.
A Whittaker rematch would be easy to sell. Both men have now left 185, they already shared a split-decision war, and Whittaker’s Krylov knockout made him look sharp at the new weight.
De Ridder is asking the company not to go there, at least not soon. He wants time away from the fighter whose combinations still stand out in his memory.
Saturday in Sacramento is the first step in that plan. If de Ridder beats Dolidze, the UFC will have a ranked light heavyweight with a win over Whittaker already on his record and a former champion in the same division waiting on the other side.