UFC 243 Live Results

Finally, Robert Whittaker will make a defense of the UFC middleweight championship and Israel Adesanya has a chance to turn his interim gold into world gold.

It’s Australia vs. New Zealand in what is being hailed as the biggest fight in Oceanic MMA history, as UFC 243 takes place from Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.

Whittaker’s title reign has been filled with strange circumstances, and his reign, at over 600 days, has the UFC record for the longest time between title win and first defense.

Whittaker won the interim middleweight title at UFC 213 in July 2017 and was promoted to full champion that December after Georges St Pierre surrendered the title due to colitis. Whittaker has had just one fight since then, defeating Yoel Romero in a rematch at UFC 225 in a fight that was supposed to be for the middleweight title until Romero missed weight.

Whittaker has had to pull out of two scheduled title defenses, both in Australia. A staph infection forced him out of a title defense with Luke Rockhold at UFC 221, and a hernia caused him to pull out the day of UFC 234, when he was to defend against Kelvin Gastelum.

Adesanya, meanwhile, was a former GLORY title challenger who turned to MMA full-time in 2017. He made his Octagon debut at UFC 221 and became one of the promotion’s fastest-rising stars, defeating the likes of Rob Wilkinson, Marvin Vettori, Brad Tavares and Derek Brunson that year. He defeated legendary longtime champion Anderson Silva in the replacement UFC 234 main event and waged a Fight of the Year candidate with Gastelum at UFC 236 to claim interim gold.

Main Card (ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET)

Israel Adesanya def. Robert Whittaker via KO (Rd. 2, 3:33)

Dan Hooker def. Al Iaquinta via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)

Sergey Spivak def. Tai Tuivasa via submission (arm-triangle choke) (Rd. 2, 3:14)

Dhiego Lima def. Luke Jumeau via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

Yorgan De Castro def. Justin Tafa via KO (Rd. 1, 2:10)

Preliminary Card (ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET)

Jake Matthews def. Rostem Akman via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Callan Potter def. Maki Pitolo via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Brad Riddell def. Jamie Mullarkey via unanimous decision (29-27, 30-26, 30-26)

Megan Anderson def. Zarah Fairn dos Santos via submission (triangle choke) (Rd. 1, 3:57)

Early Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)

Ji Yeon Kim def. Nadia Kassem via TKO (Rd. 2, 4:59)

Khalid Taha def. Bruno Silva via submission (arm-triangle choke) (Rd. 3, 3:00)