Robert Whitaker holds his head high as usual.
The former middleweight champion suffered a loss in the main event at UFC Abu Dhabi last Saturday and made a close split decision to raise De Ridha. Whitaker fought de Ridder for 25 minutes and recorded the third dramatic knockdown, but De Ridder’s 48-47 score pair won the “Dutch Knight.”
On Tuesday, Whittaker issued a statement via Instagram in response to the loss.
“I’m disappointed, but I’m not disappointed,” Whitaker said. “There are a lot of things I like about fighting, but I didn’t.
“Congratulations to De Ridder. He had a certain game plan. He did it well. It beat him. That’s that sometimes, but yeah, I’m going to learn from this experience and move on.”
The 34-year-old Whitaker has lost his first consecutive fight since 2014. He was looking to bounce back from the loss of a nasty face crank submission to Khamzat Chimaev this October, but despite some strong moments, he was short on the stars.
Even further away, with the title shot, fans and critics will speculate on the number of fights left by the 16-year veteran. However, Whitaker revealed that he would return to the octagon again, ideally in his home country in Australia.
“This isn’t the end of Robert Whitaker,” Whitaker said. “This is just a learning curve, another speed bump. I’m going to spend time with my family. I’ll just rest, recover a bit, and hopefully go back to the Australian card. Honestly, it’s been a while since I fought in Australia. I love fighting here again.”