| UFC 243: Whittaker vs. Adesanya | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 243: Whittaker vs. Adesanya | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | October 6, 2019 | |||
| Venue | Marvel Stadium | |||
| City | Melbourne, Australia | |||
| Attendance | 57,127 [1] | |||
| Total gate | $5,470,000 [1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 243: Whittaker vs. Adesanya was a mixed martial arts pay-per-view event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on October 6, 2019, at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. [2] [3]
The event was the fourth that the promotion had contested in Melbourne and second at the venue, following UFC 193 in November 2015. [3]
A UFC Middleweight Championship unification bout between the champion Robert Whittaker (also The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes welterweight winner) and undefeated interim champion Israel Adesanya served as the event's headliner. [4]
A women's bantamweight bout between former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm and former title challenger Raquel Pennington was expected to take place at this event. [5] The pairing previously met at UFC 184 in February 2015, when Holm won via split decision in her UFC debut. [6] However, on September 27, it was revealed that Holm withdrew from the bout due to a hamstring injury and the bout was cancelled. [7]
At the weigh-ins, Khalid Taha and Ji Yeon Kim missed the required weight for their respective fights. Taha weighed in at 137 pounds, 1 pound over the bantamweight non-title fight limit of 136. Meanwhile, Kim weighed in at 128 pounds, 2 pounds over the flyweight non-title fight limit of 126. Both bouts were held at catchweight. Taha and Kim were fined 20% and 30% of their purse respectively, which went to their opponents Bruno Gustavo da Silva and Nadia Kassem. [8]
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Israel Adesanya (ic) | def. | Robert Whittaker (c) | KO (punches) | 2 | 3:33 | [lower-alpha 1] |
| Lightweight | Dan Hooker | def. | Al Iaquinta | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–26) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Heavyweight | Serghei Spivac | def. | Tai Tuivasa | Technical Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 2 | 3:14 | |
| Welterweight | Dhiego Lima | def. | Luke Jumeau | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Heavyweight | Yorgan De Castro | def. | Justin Tafa | KO (punch) | 1 | 2:10 | |
| Preliminary Card (ESPN2) | |||||||
| Welterweight | Jake Matthews | def. | Rostem Akman | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Callan Potter | def. | Maki Pitolo | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Brad Riddell | def. | Jamie Mullarkey | Decision (unanimous) (29–27, 30–26, 30–26) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Featherweight | Megan Anderson | def. | Zarah Fairn dos Santos | Submission (triangle choke) | 1 | 3:57 | |
| Early Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass) | |||||||
| Catchweight (128 lb) | Ji Yeon Kim | def. | Nadia Kassem | TKO (body punches) | 2 | 4:59 | |
| Catchweight (137 lb) | Khalid Taha | vs. | Bruno Gustavo da Silva | No Contest (overturned) | 3 | 3:00 | [lower-alpha 2] |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses. [10]
UFC 243 broke the attendance record for a UFC event with a total of 57,127 people. The previous record (56,214) had been set at the same venue in November 2015 at UFC 193. [1]
Holly Holm is an American mixed martial artist, who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. She is a former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion, and a former professional boxer. She was a multiple-time world champion in boxing, defending her titles 18 times in three weight classes, and a two-time Ring magazine fighter of the year. She is ranked by BoxRec as the 20th greatest female professional boxer of all time, pound for pound.
Raquel Pennington is an American professional mixed martial artist who competes in the women's bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where she is the current UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion. As of January 23, 2024, she is #7 in the UFC women's pound-for-pound rankings.
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