On Saturday, Oct. 5 (in North America), the UFC hosted UFC 243: Whittaker vs. Adesanya from Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
In the night’s main event, middleweight champion Robert Whittaker clashed with interim titleholder Israel Adesanya in a unification bout. Whittaker entered the match-up having won nine straight fights in the Octagon. However, the New Zealand-born fighter suffered an abdominal hernia in February and had been out of action ever since. Adesanya, meanwhile, had taken the division by storm since transitioning to MMA from kickboxing. The Nigeria native was undefeated through his first 17 MMA fights, including six straight under the UFC banner. He defeated Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236 to claim interim gold.
The 11-fight event kicked off with two preliminary-card fights streaming live on ESPN+ at 6:45 p.m. ET. Four additional prelims followed on ESPN 2 at 8 p.m. ET, with the five-fight main card airing on ESPN+ pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET.
Dan Hooker def. Al Iaquinta by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Sergey Spivac def. Tai Tuivasa by technical submission (arm-triangle choke). Round 2, 3:14
Dhiego Lima def. Luke Jumeau by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Yorgan de Castro def. Justin Tafa by knockout (punch). Round 1, 2:10
Jake Matthews def. Rostem Akman by unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Callan Potter def. Maki Pitolo by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Brad Riddell def. Jamie Mullarkey by unanimous decision (29-27, 30-26, 30-26)
Megan Anderson def. Zarah Fairn Dos Santos by submission (triangle choke). Round 1, 3:57
Ji Yeon Kim def. Nadia Kassem by TKO (punches). Round 2, 4:59
Khalid Taha def. Bruno Silva by submission (arm-triangle choke). Round 3, 3:00