On Saturday, Feb. 9 (in North America), the UFC will host UFC 234: Whittaker vs. Gastelum from the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia.
In the night’s main event, middleweight champion Robert Whittaker puts his belt on the line against Kelvin Gastelum. The Australia-based Kiwi Whittaker has reeled off nine straight wins, including eight in a row since moving up to 185 pounds. His last four fights have earned performance bonuses, including his back-to-back wins over Yoel Romero. Gastelum, meanwhile, enters the bout on the heels of a split-decision win over former Strikeforce champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza last May.
The evening’s co-headliner features undefeated kickboxing stalwart Israel Adesanya against former middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva.
The 12-fight event kicks off with three prelims streaming on UFC Fight Pass at 6:30 p.m. ET. Four additional preliminary-card bouts follow on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET, with the night’s five-fight main card airing live on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET.
Above is video (courtesy of the UFC) of the event’s pre-fight press conference which takes place at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, Feb. 7 (in North America).
Israel Adesanya vs. Anderson Silva
Rani Yahya vs. Ricky Simon
Montana De La Rosa vs. Nadia Kassem
Jim Crute vs. Sam Alvey
Shane Young vs. Austin Arnett
Kai Kara-France vs. Raulian Paiva
Teruto Ishihara vs. Kyung Ho Kang
Callan Potter vs. Jalin Turner
Wuliji Buren vs. Jonathan Martinez