UFC 243 served up a platter of entertaining and fast paced fights to a very welcoming Australian crowd.
Below are the outcomes of the main card fights:
- Israel Adesanya (W) def. Robert Whittaker (L) – Via TKO/KO Rd.2
- Dan Hooker (W) def. Al Iaquinta (L) – Via Unanimous Decision
- Sergey Spivak (W) def. Tai Tuivasa (L) – Via Submission Rd.2
- Dhiego Lima (W) def. Luke Jumeau (L) – Via Split Decision
- Yorgan De Castro (W) def. Justin Tafa (L) – Via KO Rd.1
The New Middleweight King
Israel Adesanya has finally reached the pinnacle of sports stardom by taking out Robert Whittaker and thus becoming the undisputed UFC Middleweight Champion.
Robert Whittaker started the fight moving towards Adesanya aggressively overreaching and trying to land a hard shot in the hopes of putting Israel away early. Israel made a read of what Whittaker was attempting to do and positioned himself perfectly to counter these shots.
The counter Shots of Israel Worked like he intended as he dropped Robert seconds before the end of the first round. He was unable to capitalise on this however as the round ended just as Whittaker hit the floor.
Sensing that Whittaker was hurt Adesanay walked into the second round with more confidence, holding his chin up high and hands lower than before. Continuously Israel searched for the shot that would lead to the demise of “The Reaper”. This shot would come shortly after in an exchange where both Whittaker and Israel fired off lethal hooks at one another whilst in the middle of the octagon.
A New Heavyweight Enters The Scene
Another impressive Moment in the event came in the form of, new UFC heavyweight, Yorgan De Castro’s devastating walk-off knockout of Justin Tafa.
A wave of gasps enveloped Marvel Stadium as Justin Tafa fell to the canvas from Yorgan De Castro’s left hand landing clean upon his chin.
