Reinier de Ridder scoffs at Paulo Costa’s criticism: ‘What happened’ when you fought Robert Whittaker?

Reinier de Ridder picked up the biggest win of his career on Saturday after beating former champion Robert Whittaker in the UFC Abu Dhabi main event, but he didn’t escape criticism from another veteran middleweight.

Just moments after having his hand raised in a split-decision victory to move to 4-0 in the UFC, de Ridder was subjected to a message from Paulo Costa, who is just days removed from his decision win over Roman Kopylov at UFC 318. Costa, who got back on track after losing two in a row, obviously gained some confidence with his success as he took aim at de Ridder for his performance.

“With all due respect, I would knock out de Ridder three [times each] round,” Costa wrote on Twitter. “All that said congrats for your win today, despite bad fight.”

Now Costa’s knockout prediction might seem a little odd considering he hasn’t finished an opponent since 2018 but that’s neither here nor there.

Obviously it didn’t bother de Ridder too much, especially after he was reminded that Costa lost a unanimous decision to Whittaker when they clashed back in 2024.

“There’s always a hater out there,” de Ridder said when asked about Costa’s comments. “Did Paulo Costa never fight Whittaker? What happened?”

A big smile crept across de Ridder’s face as he was reminded of Costa’s result in his own fight against Whittaker.

As far as what actually unfolded on Saturday, de Ridder felt confident in his victory after two judges gave him the fight with 48-47 scorecards over Whittaker.

“I’ve got to watch this back. At least the last two rounds, right? Maybe the second as well,” de Ridder said about which rounds he won. “I got on top a couple of times. I hurt him a couple of times with the knee but this guy is a tough guy. He was hard to put away. He did amazing. I think I said it a couple of times already but one of the best Rob’s I’ve seen in years. He was so calm, collected, very explosive. It was hard work this time.

“I was surprised one judge scored it completely wrong. I thought I had three rounds at least. But it is what it is. I hoped to finish him, and I didn’t so you never know what the judges make of it. I’ll be sure to finish the next guy again.”

While it’s pretty clear that Costa is nowhere on his radar after taking out Whittaker at UFC Abu Dhabi, de Ridder can only hold out hope that perhaps a title shot is waiting him in the future.

The middleweight belt goes up for grabs at UFC 319 when reigning champion Dricus du Plessis faces Khamzat Chimaev in the main event. A month later, Nassourdine Imavov looks to build off his knockout win over Israel Adesanya when he faces Caio Borralho in the UFC Paris headliner.

With his own win over Whittaker on Saturday, de Ridder believes he’s in a good position but he can’t say for sure what’s next until everything else plays out first.

“We’ll see what happens,” de Ridder said. “There’s a lot going on in the middleweight division in the next couple of weeks. As you said, I’m a top five fighter in the world. That’s crazy. Who can say that? In one year and I think I have a good chance fighting for a title someday soon. We’ll see.

“Hopefully [I’ll fight for the title], we’ll see what happens. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the middleweight division coming up in the next few months. I’m a top five fighter in the world. I want to prove that I’m the best. I want to get back in the gym, work on all the stuff that happened in this fight. But first, I need some relaxation for a couple of weeks I think.”