The UFC on ABC 9 main event on July 26 in Abu Dhabi pits former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker against Reinier de Ridder. I’m backing the moneyline on Robert Whittaker here for several reasons.
This is another one of those situations such as last year when Whittaker took on Aliskerov in the main event and ended up smoking him inside the first two minutes of the fight. Whittaker closed as a slight favorite and very close to the odds in this weekend’s fight. Whittaker proved he is still a very elite fighter and a tough task for anyone who is not in that top echelon of middleweights.
While I am not directly saying De Ridder cannot win this fight, he is getting a big step up in competition compared to his wins over Kevin Holland and Bo Nickal. This matchup really relies on what version of Whittaker we are getting – he has had some weird performances in the past but those again, come against the top guys in his division. If we get close to a still prime or very good version of Robert Whittaker then he should be able to use his great takedown defense to keep this fight on the feet and then style on De Ridder to win on points or a likely finish via strikes.
Bet: Robert Whittaker (-150)
Thanks for reading and best of luck!
