UFC Abu Dhabi saw several favorites of the home audience producing big wins on July 26.
Shara Magomedov defeated Marc-Andre Barriault and deserved fighting the night awards for a competition in which 'Bullet' bounced back from the first loss of his career.
In the Co-Main event, Petr Yan Marcus McRghee defeated with a stylish version that further proved that he is still one of the best Bantam weights in the world.
However, the main event did not have a hunter who has a close relationship with Abu Dhabi or the fans who were present in the Etihad Arena.
Reinier de Ridder earned a close decision gain on Robert Whittaker, but some fans chose to make an early exit instead of staying around to see how the middleweight collision took place.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
UFC director David Shaw says that the promotion will not run to always contain regional fighters in main events
Although the Etihad Arena was not completely empty by the time the main event started, many fans made it clear that they were not overly interested in the UFC Abu Dhabi headliner.
That is not because it was not a worthy main event, with many fans who were not present, looking forward to the middleweight matchup.
The same happened last month during UFC Baku, where Khalil Rountree Jamahal Hill could have beaten at the UFC Apex with how quiet the building was.
At the post-Fight press conference of Dana White standing, UFC director David Shaw was asked about this and whether the UFC would consider making a change in the way they plan foreign combat events to prevent this.
He immediately concluded this suggestion and claims that the UFC always wants to do the best possible fighting, and that means that both regional hunters and overseas talent are convey.
“Uh, no. We are not. Listen, the way Dana puts together these fighting cards, he strives, he reaches the best fights he can do at the time.
“We also come, especially when we come back to a location quite often, of some of the conversations we have had with our partners, with fans, with employment partners, yes, you get a lot of energy, you get a lot of local support for the regional boys, but local fans want to see the world stars and why wouldn't someone want to see anyone like Robert Whittaker?”
The lack of local interest at UFC Abu Dhabi does not fight Reinier de Ridder
Regardless of how many people held around to see him competing, Reinier De Ridder still earned the biggest victory of his career on Saturday evening.
The Dutchman has always been pretty impressed by the glitter and the glamor of the sport, so you could probably predict his reaction to be asked about the lack of media that held around to talk to him during the press conference after the fight.
“I don't care, but thanks for staying.”
The main event perhaps had some slower rounds towards the end, but the fans who left early still missed a good back and forth matchup with an incredible third round in which both men were injured.