Sure, Reinier de Ridder is fighting in his first UFC main event in just his fourth trip to the Octagon.
And sure, that fight is coming against a former champion in Robert Whittaker who has spent the better part of the last decade at the top of the middleweight division.
But “RdR” doesn’t care. He isn’t concerned with pacing himself for a potential 25-minute fight against one of the best middleweights of this era. He wants to fight his fight and, for a man who has only fought past the third round once and to the scorecards twice, that means getting his job done early on July 26.