The latest UFC Fight Night event was held in Abu Dhabi and was headlined by a middleweight clash between Robert Whittaker and Reinier De Ridder.

In the UFC on ABC 9 main event Saturday, de Ridder (21-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) defeated former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (26-9 MMA, 17-7 UFC) over five rounds. The decision was a split set of 48-47 scorecards. The event took place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Reinier de Ridder picked up the biggest win of his career on Saturday when he took a hard-fought split decision over former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC Fight Night from Abu Dhabi.

Robert Whittaker’s return to the top spot is inevitable. He's simply too talented. At the age of 30, the Australian has already become a UFC middleweight champion.

Reinier de Ridder thought one judge got it 'completely wrong' in his split decision win over Robert Whittaker at UFC Abu Dhabi.

A middleweight clash with title implications headlines UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi. Former UFC champion Robert Whittaker and former two-division ONE Championship king Reinier de Ridder fight weeks before a 185-pound title fight at UFC 319.

Whittaker arrived at the airport in Sydney, Australia, in the aftermath of UFC 271. He popped the trunk of a car open, only to find his children stowed away in the back.

The MMA community reacted to Reinier de Ridder's split decision over Robert Whittaker at UFC Abu Dhabi – with some questioning the result.

"We would have crossed that bridge when we got there," Robert Whittaker smirked when asked whether he had contingencies in place in case things didn’t exactly go according to plan with Israel Adesanya.