Outside Source
De Ridder started quickly but faded badly down the stretch against Brendan Allen in their middleweight bout at the Rogers Center in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Saturday night. In the later rounds, “The Dutch Knight” struggled to return to his corner, as he appeared to be badly fatigued by the grappling exchanges that occurred in the fight. According to coach Harun Ozkan, it was the “right call” to throwel in the towel prior to the fifth frame.
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“Last night didn’t go as we wanted,” Ozkan wrote on Instagram. “After a very strong start in the first round, things quickly started fading and we couldn’t really recover from the shots in and after the second round. I made the call to stop the fight after the fourth round. I take full responsibility for that decision and it was the right call to make for me in the moment. It’s not a decision I ever wanted to make, but I guess sometimes you have to.
My job is to coach, but also to look out for my fighter’s health. I’ve been with Reinier for basically his whole career and saw too many signs that made me step in. If I didn’t do anything, he would’ve continued the fight. Rather than risk unnecessary damage, I decided to call it a day and go home as healthy as possible. Live to fight another day.”
De Ridder entered UFC Vancouver on a four-bout winning streak, and he could have had a legitimate claim to a title shot with an impressive showing against Allen. However, Ozkan wasn’t willing to let the former ONE Championship title holder go out on his shield in the final five minutes after watching him struggle for the previous three rounds.
Coach Offers No Excuses for Loss
“I absolutely do not care about pleasing others if it comes at the cost of someone’s health,” Ozkan added. “There’s a thin line between ’being tough’ and watching out for your health. This sport can be brutal. These guys sacrifice a lot of their life in and out of the cage — there’s no need for excess damage if it can be avoided. Most people forget they’re human too.
“Zero excuses for this loss, we knew what we were going for. We are not happy with this performance, but for now recovery first, evaluate some stuff and we will be back next year. It has been an amazing year overall and thankful for all the highs and lows in life.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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