On Saturday, Oct. 5 (in North America), the UFC will host UFC 243: Whittaker vs. Adesanya from Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
In the night’s main event, middleweight champion Robert Whittaker clashes with interim titleholder Israel Adesanya in a unification bout. Whittaker enters the match-up having won nine straight fights in the Octagon. However, the New Zealand-born fighter suffered an abdominal hernia in February and has been out of action ever since. Adesanya, meanwhile, has taken the division by storm since transitioning to MMA from kickboxing. The Nigeria native is 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 kicks off with two preliminary-card fights streaming live on ESPN+ at 6:45 p.m. ET. Four additional prelims follow 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.
The fighters hit the scales at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 4. Video of the action (courtesy of the UFC) appears above, while the results will be posted below as they become available.
Robert Whittaker (185) vs. Israel Adesanya (184) – for middleweight title
Al Iaquinta (155) vs. Dan Hooker (155)
Tai Tuivasa (264) vs. Sergey Spivak (233)
Luke Jumeau (171) vs. Dhiego Lima (171)
Justin Tafa (265) vs. Yorgan de Castro (265)
Jake Matthews (171) vs. Rostem Akman (171)
Callan Potter (171) vs. Maki Pitolo (170)
Jamie Mullarkey (156) vs. Brad Riddell (156)
Megan Anderson (146) vs. Zarah Fairn Dos Santos (146)
Nadia Kassem (126) vs. Ji Yeon Kim (128)**
Khalid Taha (137)* vs. Bruno Silva (136)
* Taha forfeits 20 percent of his purse
** Kim has two additional hours to cut weight