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Brett Okamoto
Former ONE Championship two-division champion Reinier de Ridder put the UFC’s middleweight division on discover with a split decision win over former titleholder Robert Whittaker in the primary occasion of UFC Combat Evening at Etihad Area in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday.
Regardless of being knocked down and practically completed by Whittaker, de Ridder confirmed his resolve by storming again to outpoint Whittaker and earn the win. De Ridder is 4-0 since making his promotional debut final November. What did we study in regards to the state of the middleweight division in de Ridder’s victory?
Within the co-main occasion, former males’s bantamweight champion Petr Yan proved he is nonetheless a power within the division with a unanimous resolution win over Marcus McGhee. Might we see him difficult to reclaim the belt quickly?
And what ought to we make of Shara Magomedov‘s win over Marc-Andre Barriault on the primary card?
Listed below are the largest takeaways from Saturday’s UFC Combat Evening card.
Robert Whittaker’s loss is unhappy, however finest for the division
Whittaker is without doubt one of the trendy OGs of the game. No frills, simply reveals up and does the job. He was underappreciated early in his profession. He gained the UFC’s interim title in 2017 and was later denied the chance to unify that title towards a giant identify like Michael Bisping or Georges St-Pierre. As a substitute, Bisping and St-Pierre fought one another, then retired. Whittaker’s reward for successful the UFC title become back-to-back matchups towards the ridiculously robust Yoel Romero.
Whittaker went on to lose the belt in devastating vogue, getting knocked out in entrance of his dwelling nation followers by a generational expertise in Israel Adesanya. He quietly went in regards to the enterprise of incomes a second crack at Adesanya three years later, solely to come back up quick in an in depth resolution. He has been considerably solid within the function of a divisional gatekeeper since. Each Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev, who will sq. off for the championship at UFC 319 subsequent month, punched their tickets to a UFC title shot by defeating Whittaker.
I am not prepared for the Whittaker period to finish, however all through 5 rounds on Saturday, it was fairly clear that it’s ending. Whittaker’s toughness, his will to win and his combat IQ are all nonetheless intact. However he is 34 years previous. De Ridder is just two months youthful than “Bobby Knuckles” however strikes as if the age hole had been 5 years. Should you instructed me Whittaker would have been up on the scorecards going into the championship rounds on Saturday (which he was), I might have confidently picked him to win. De Ridder additionally has expertise in fights scheduled for 5 rounds, however not towards this degree of competitors. De Ridder ended up successful each the fourth and fifth rounds — the fifth, unanimously.
De Ridder successful and surging forward together with his third win of 2025 is finest for the middleweight division. De Ridder is getting higher. Whittaker, as a lot because it hurts to say, is displaying indicators of slowing down. He is nonetheless among the many prime fighters within the division and maintains the entire traits that made him a champion, however they’re all working at one gear much less. He nonetheless has fights left, however by way of pleasure for the 185-pound division, it is de Ridder’s time.
Petr Yan could possibly be probably the most underrated fighter within the UFC
Previously 5 years, there will not be a fighter within the UFC with a extra deceptive report than Yan. He gained the UFC championship in July 2020, enhancing to an expert report of 15-1. He went on to lose his belt to Aljamain Sterling in his first tried protection, disqualified within the infamous illegal knee incident of UFC 259.
Yan was answerable for the unlawful shot, but it surely wasn’t a loss in the best way we sometimes consider one. He went on to beat Cory Sandhagen for an interim championship in 2022 and was nonetheless extensively thought-about top-of-the-line pound-for-pound fighters on the earth. Since then, he has fallen sufferer to razor-thin cut up resolution losses to Sterling and Sean O’Malley, and he additionally misplaced to the eventual champion, Merab Dvalishvili. The Dvalishvili combat was the worst efficiency of Yan’s UFC profession. A few of that’s on Yan, however a few of it was additionally a results of dangerous luck.
On the peak of his success — proper round that disqualification loss to Sterling — Yan regarded nearly as good as any fighter on the earth. Sterling shocked him within the rematch, turning a one-sided affair of their first bout right into a aggressive bout only one 12 months later. After which O’Malley squeaked by in a choice that many followers felt was much more controversial than the one towards Sterling. Yan’s three-fight skid culminated in a demoralizing loss to Dvalishvili in 2023. There are rumors that Yan had suffered an undisclosed harm forward of that combat.
Yan hasn’t fairly commanded the identical consideration since he misplaced the title. But when a number of small issues had performed out in a different way, Yan should be the bantamweight champion and a pound-for-pound candidate. And regardless of how one-sided the primary combat was, a rematch towards Dvalishvili is intriguing to me.
Shara Magomedov’s profession shall be a bumpy, enjoyable trip
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Bloodied Magomedov prevails in slugfest towards Barriault
Shara Magomedov and Marc-Andre Barriault placed on a present at UFC 318 in Abu Dhabi.
It was extraordinarily becoming, the interplay between Magomedov and UFC commentator Michael Bisping contained in the Octagon instantly after Magomedov’s combat. After his win over Marc-Andre Barriault, the 31-year-old delayed the postfight interview to let Bisping understand how glad he was to see the previous UFC middleweight champion.
“You are a giant motivation to me,” Magomedov, who improved to 5-1 within the UFC, instructed Bisping. “Step-by-step, I’ll grow to be champion.”
Whereas Magomedov’s path to a UFC title will not precisely mirror Bisping’s of years in the past, I believe they will be related in that there shall be loads of ups and downs. Bisping’s path to a title was lengthy and tough, as he appeared in 25 fights earlier than getting a title shot. Magomedov’s title aspirations will most likely be determined properly earlier than 19 fights from now, however he seems destined to face obstacles alongside the best way.
Saturday’s win was remarkably spectacular. Magomedov’s high-level putting jumps off the display, and his takedown protection was practically excellent. He overcame adversity in Spherical 2, when Barriault crushed his nostril with a flush proper hand. The shot clearly bothered Magomedov, however he confirmed coronary heart in not solely coming again and successful the spherical, however ending the combat standing over Barriault after a comparatively dominant third spherical.
All that mentioned, Magomedov was greater than a 6-to-1 betting favourite on Saturday, in accordance with ESPN BET. Pretty much as good because it was to see him get the win, it is also price stating he didn’t dominate in the best way a 6-to-1 favourite is anticipated to. In his look earlier than this weekend, he suffered a choice loss to Michael “Venom” Page, who’s a pure welterweight. There’s quite a bit to love about Magomedov, but it surely has already been demonstrated that he’s not going to breeze his solution to a UFC title shot. There shall be quite a lot of adversity alongside the best way.
However as he confirmed on Saturday, Magomedov is up for it. And the truth that he views Bisping as a supply of motivation alerts that he is aware of the laborious path he is in for.