| UFC 243: Whittaker vs. Adesanya | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 243: Whittaker vs. Adesanya | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | October 6, 2019 (2019-10-06) | |||
| Venue | Marvel Stadium | |||
| City | Melbourne, Australia | |||
| Attendance | 57,127[1] | |||
| Total gate | $5,470,000[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 243: Whittaker vs. Adesanya was amixed martial arts pay-per-view event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on October 6, 2019, atMarvel Stadium inMelbourne, Australia.[2][3]
The event was the fourth that the promotion had contested in Melbourne and second at the venue, followingUFC 193 in November 2015.[3]
AUFC Middleweight Championship unification bout between the championRobert Whittaker (alsoThe Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes welterweight winner) and undefeated interim championIsrael Adesanya served as the event's headliner.[4]
A women's bantamweight bout between formerUFC Women's Bantamweight ChampionHolly Holm and former title challengerRaquel Pennington was expected to take place at this event.[5] The pairing previously met atUFC 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 ahamstring injury and the bout was cancelled.[7]
At the weigh-ins,Khalid Taha andJi 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 opponentsBruno Gustavo da Silva andNadia Kassem.[8]
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Israel Adesanya (ic) | def. | Robert Whittaker (c) | KO (punches) | 2 | 3:33 | [a] |
| 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 | [b] |
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 atUFC 193.[1]
