Date:Sunday, October 6, 2019
Location:Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia
Live On: Watch UFC

UFC 243: Whittaker vs. Adesanya is an upcoming mixed martial arts pay-per-view event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that is scheduled to take place on October 6, 2019 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia


The UFC 243 weigh in will take place on the morning of Saturday, October 5. The public weigh-in ceremony is scheduled to begin at 10am.
Because the card starts in the morning the following day, there is unlikely to be an official weigh in and a ceremonial weigh in. Rather, the ceremonial weigh in, which starts at 10, will be the real weigh in - like in the old days.  

UFC 243 GUEST FIGHTERS ANNOUNCED
The guest fighters for UFC 243 have been announced with plenty of international and local talent on hand. 
From the Thursday of fight week, guest fighters Paulo Costa, Alex Volkanovski, Brian Ortega, Kai Kara-France, Jimmy Crute and Tyson Pedro will be on hand for events and interviews. 
Costa will most likely face the winner of the UFC 243 main event, while Volkanovski is booked for a featherweight title bout against Max Holloway in December. 


Ortega's last fight was a featherweight title bout against Holloway, and he's booked to take on The Korean Zombie while Kara-France beat Mark De La Rosa by decision in China in August. 
UFC 243: ROBERT WHITTAKER TALKS ABOUT AUSTRALIA VS NEW ZEALAND RIVALRY
Is Rob Whittaker an Aussie, or is he a Kiwi? With this fight turning into a classic trans-Tasman clash, it's the question on everybody's lips. 


UFC 243 FIGHT CARD: WHO IS FIGHTING AT UFC 243?
This card is going to be stacked. 

UFC 243 FIGHT CARD
The UFC have confirmed the official fight order for UFC 243, with Jake Matthews set to headline the prelims, while Holly Holm and Raquel Pennington will kick off the main card. 

The UFC is returning to Australia with a blockbuster UFC 243 pay-per-view card featuring Robert Whittaker defending his middleweight belt against Israel Adesanya. 


The card will also see a host of ANZAC MMA talent on show, with Tai Tuivasa, Megan Anderson, Luke Jumeau, Jake Matthews, Brad Riddell and Nadia Kassem all already booked. 
Here's everything you need to know ahead of the biggest MMA fight in Australia and New Zealand's history. 

WHEN IS UFC 243 IN MELBOURNE? 
UFC 243 will be held on Sunday, October 6 in Australia.  

UFC 243 has been scheduled for the same day as the NRL Grand Final, which will be held at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. There won't be any crossover between UFC 243 and the NRL Grand Final
WHAT TIME WILL UFC 243 START? 
On fight day, doors will open at 8:15am (AEDT) and the first fight of the prelims will start at 9:15am. 

The main prelims will start at 11am, and the main card will start at 1pm.  

UFC 243 WEIGH IN: Where is the UFC 243 weigh in? 
The UFC 243 weigh in will take place on the morning of Saturday, October 5. The public weigh-in ceremony is scheduled to begin at 10am.

Because the card starts in the morning the following day, there is unlikely to be an official weigh in and a ceremonial weigh in. Rather, the ceremonial weigh in, which starts at 10, will be the real weigh in - like in the old days. 

The weigh in will take place at Marvel Stadium -the same place as the fights. 

It's free, but if you want to go, you need to buy tickets, and you can do that right here. 

UFC 243 GUEST FIGHTERS ANNOUNCED
The guest fighters for UFC 243 have been announced with plenty of international and local talent on hand. 

From the Thursday of fight week, guest fighters Paulo Costa, Alex Volkanovski, Brian Ortega, Kai Kara-France, Jimmy Crute and Tyson Pedro will be on hand for events and interviews. 

Costa will most likely face the winner of the UFC 243 main event, while Volkanovski is booked for a featherweight title bout against Max Holloway in December. 

Ortega's last fight was a featherweight title bout against Holloway, and he's booked to take on The Korean Zombie while Kara-France beat Mark De La Rosa by decision in China in August. 

UFC 243: ROBERT WHITTAKER TALKS ABOUT AUSTRALIA VS NEW ZEALAND RIVALRY
Is Rob Whittaker an Aussie, or is he a Kiwi? With this fight turning into a classic trans-Tasman clash, it's the question on everybody's lips. 

New Zealand is claiming Whittaker. He was born there after all. 

Australians are also claiming him. He's lived in Sydney for the vast majority of his life. 

But which side of the Tasman does The Reaper represent when he fights? Well, we asked him. 

Hit the link here to find out what he thinks. 



UFC 243: ROB WHITTAKER TO MEET ACTING NSW SPORTS MINISTER
Rob Whittaker has been invited to meet acting New South Wales Sports Minister Geoff Lee before he flies down to Melbourne for fight week. 

Whittaker will meet Lee on Friday, September 27.

We'll have more details on this as it unfolds. 

UFC 243 FIGHT CARD: WHO IS FIGHTING AT UFC 243?
This card is going to be stacked. 

UFC 243 FIGHT CARD
The UFC have confirmed the official fight order for UFC 243, with Jake Matthews set to headline the prelims, while Holly Holm and Raquel Pennington will kick off the main card. 

Here's the full bout order.  

UFC 243 MAIN CARD
Robert Whittaker (champion) vs Israel Adesanya (interim champion)
Al Iaquinta vs Dan Hooker (lightweight)
Tai Tuivasa vs Sergey Spivak (heavyweight)
Luke Jumeau vs Dhiego Lima (welterweight)
Holly Holm vs Raquel Pennington (bantamweight)

UFC 243 PRELIMS
Jake Matthews vs Rostam Akman (welterweight)
Justin Tafa vs Yorgan De Castro (Heavyweight)
Cal Potter vs Maki Pitolo (welterweight)
Megan Anderson vs Zarah Farim Dos Santos (featherweight)
Brad Riddell vs Jamie Mullarkey (lightweight)
Nadia Kassem vs Ji Yeon Kim (flyweight)
Khalid Taha vs Bruno Silva (bantamweight)


WHERE IS UFC 243? 
UFC 243 will be held at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne's Docklands. 

In 2015, the venue hosted Ronda Rousey's UFC 193 bantamweight title defence against Holly Holm. 

In front of a UFC record 56,214 fans, Holm produced one of the sport's greatest upsets when she earned a second round knockout to claim the title. 

Marvel usually hosts AFL matches and with it's central location is the perfect spot for live sport. In summer, the venue is home to the Melbourne Renegades Big Bash League cricket team. 

UFC 243 TICKETS - WHEN DO UFC 243 TICKETS GO ON SALE? 
UFC 243 tickets went on sale to the general public on Friday, August 16, and you can find our more details here. 

After just six days, UFC president Dana White says 32,000 tickets have already been sold. That's rapid. 

Sporting News will be right across presale and general sale ticket release, so stay tuned! 

ARE UFC 243 TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE? 
As of September 12, yep, there's still plenty of tickets available to buy at Ticket Master.

The cheapest ticket on offer at the moment costs (AU) $86.45 and you'll be sitting in the upper tier at Marvel Stadium.

The best seats still available on Ticket Master are in the platinum area and will set you back $2270 each. You'll be sitting pretty damn close to the Octagon with those. 

UFC 243 FIGHT WEEK SCHEDULE
The UFC has released the official fight week schedule for UFC 243, and there's plenty of fight fans to be excited about. 

UFC 243: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3
Thursday is open workout day. The UFC 243 Open Workouts will take place between 5pm and 7pm at Federation Square on the corner of Swanston Street and Flinders Street. 

The event will be hosted by UFC commentator Jon Anik and all the big names will be in attendance.

Here are the details. 

5:30pm: Dan Hooker workout

5:45pm: Israel Adesanya workout

6pm: Tai Tuivasa workout

6:15pm: Holly Holm workout

6:30pm: Al Iaquinta workout

6:45pm: Robert Whittaker workout

UFC 243: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4
Friday is ultimate media day. It's closed to the public, but is where plenty of great stories and videos will come from. 

Eat Up Australia Hunger Relief Challenge - 111 Cambridge Street, Collingwood. 

This event will feature Brian Ortega, Kai Kara-France and Tyson Pedro. More details will be released during fight week. 

UFC 243: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5
IT'S WEIGH-IN DAY! 

It's also UFC Fan Experience Day at Marvel Stadium. 

Fans will be able to take part in a fully interactive experience with UFC meet-and-greets and fan favourite activities including UFC Legacy Championship Belt, UFC Striking Challenge presented by eToro, UFC Reaction Challenge and more!

The weigh-ins start at 10am. As mentioned above, it's FREE, but you do need tickets to get inside the stadium. 

After the weigh-ins, there will be a guest fighter Q&A from 10:30. 

WHAT IS THE UFC ATTENDANCE RECORD? 
The biggest ever crowd for a UFC event was at UFC 193 in Melbourne when Holly Holm beat Ronda Rousey. 

The attendance that day was 56,214, which bested the UFC 129 record, when Georges St-Pierre beat Jake Shields at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Third on the list is the 45,207 people who saw Stipe Miocic beat Fabricio Werdum at UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil.

The next highest attendance is 30,000 when Alexander Gustafsson lost to Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson in Stockholm in 2015, while GSP's UFC 124 win in Quebec drew a crowd of 23,152.

HOW TO WATCH UFC 243 IN AUSTRALIA
UFC 243 will be shown on pay-per-view on Main Event in Australia. Main Event haven't announced how much it will cost. 

For a price comparison, UFC 241 cost $54.95, and Tim Tszyu's win over Dwight Ritchie was $49.95.

UFC 243 BETTING AND GAMBLING ODDS - WHITTAKER VS ADESANYA
Rob Whittaker opened as the bookies' favourite, paying $1.68, with Adesanya at $2.15. 

By late September, Whittaker had drifted slightly to $1.70, while Adesanya stayed at $2.15.

Diving a little deeper, Whittaker is paying $2.65 to win by knockout, with Adesanya at $3.75 to win in the same fashion. That price didn't move in the month and a half after the market opened. 

The Reaper is at $4.50 for a decision win, and The Stylebender is $6 if it goes the distance. Like the knockout market, those prices didn't move heading into late September. 

Elsewhere on the card, Tai Tuivasa opened as the $1.60 favourite compared to $2.30 for Sergey Spivak. By the start of September, Tuivasa had shortened to $1.45, while Spivak was out to $2.60. As of the 22nd of September, Tuivasa was still at $1.45, with Spivak going out again to $2.65. 

Megan Anderson opened as the shortest price favourite, paying $1.40 to beat Zarah Farim Dos Santos ($2.80). That moved to $1.25 in September, with Dos Santos out to $3.75.

Kiwi Luke Jumeau is also the favourite in his fight, starting out at $1.70. His price hadn't moved by September 22. 

It's tight between Dan Hooker and Al Iaquinta, with the American paying $1.85 and the Kiwi at $1.90. Those prices stayed firm into late September. 

Jake Matthews is $1.40, with Rostem Akman paying $2.85.

Holly Holm opened at $1.45 in August to Raquel Pennington's $2.75, and those prices had moved to $1.50 for Holm and $2.50 for Pennington by late September. 

ROBERT WHITTAKER VS ISRAEL ADESANYA - The story so far
Australia and New Zealand's first UFC champion Robert Whittaker, and Kiwi super star Israel Adesanya will unify the middleweight division. 

Whittaker won the interim middleweight title in 2017 with a hard-fought five-round decision win over Yoel Romero. He was then promoted to full middleweight champion later that year when then-champ Georges St-Pierre decided to step away from the sport. 

MORE: GSP showers praise on Robert Whittaker 

Whittaker was slated to defend the title against Luke Rockhold at UFC 221 in Perth last year, but was forced out through illness. 

Rockhold subsequently fought Yoel Romero. The fight was supposed to be for the interim middleweight title, but Romero missed weight, meaning he was ineligible to claim the title if he won - which he did. Adesanya made his long-awaited UFC debut on the same card, earning a second-round TKO victory over Rob Wilkinson. 

In June last year, Whittaker fought Romero again, and again won a decision in one of the fights of the year at UFC 225. 

Meanwhile, The Stylebender kept tallying up victories, beating Marvin Vettori and Brad Tavares before scoring a highlight-reel first round win over Derek Brunson at UFC 231 in Madison Square Garden. 

Fast forward to February 2019, and Whittaker was set to defend the title against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 234 in Melbourne, with Adesanya to face former 185-pound champion Anderson Silva. 

After making weight, The Reaper fell ill, and on the morning of the fight, was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery. 


Adesanya and Silva were promoted to the main event, with the Kiwi-Nigerian claiming an electrifying unanimous decision win. 


It was Adesanya's fifth win in 12 months, and he was offered an interim title shot against Gastelum in the co-main event slot at UFC 236 in April this year. In a five-round epic that will take some beating as fight of the year, Adesanya edged a decision to claim UFC gold. 

MORE: Inside fight camp with Israel Adesanya | How Israel Adesanya overcame Kelvin Gastelum - The inside story

WHITTAKER NOT INTERESTED IN ADESANYA'S TRASH TALK
Whittaker has rarely, if ever, engaged in pre-fight trash talk, and it doesn't look like being any different this time around. 

Adesanya has been vocal in hitting out at Whittaker, but the Sydney-sider says he's content to let his actions in the Octagon do the talking. 

He spoke more about the build-up to the fight in a recent appearance on Helwani's Show. 

Check out what he had to say here. 

ADESANYA MAKES HUGE CLAIM ABOUT WHITTAKER'S PAY
Adesanya wasn't too worried about Whittaker's comments on his trash talk. He says it comes naturally and doesn't mind taking the lead in selling tickets. 

But, he claims Whittaker's unwillingness to speak out is costing him money. 

Read more about it here. 

HAVE WHITTAKER AND ADESANYA FOUGHT THE SAME OPPONENT?
Yep. Two of them. 

Whittaker and Adesanya have both beaten Derek Brunson and Brad Tavares. 

Whittaker defeated Brunson when the American was on an absolute tear in November 2016. The bout was slated for the co-main event slot of a non-PPV card at Rod Laver Arena, but when Luke Rockhold pulled out of his fight with Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza, they were elevated to a five-round main event. 

Brunson started fast, rocking Whittaker early, before The Reaper hit back, finishing the bout with just over a minute left in the first round. Sporting News was there, and was the loudest crowd we've heard in a while. 

Adesanya's win over Brunson came in November last year, with the Stylebender turning on all the moves for a clinical, show-stealing victory. 

In May 2015, in his second fight at middleweight after moving up from welterweight, Whittaker simply monstered Tavares, winning in just 44 seconds. 

Adesanya's win over Tavares, in July last year, was a classy and one-sided unanimous decision win last July in his first UFC main event. 

UFC 243: ROBERT WHITTAKER TALKS ISRAEL ADESANYA'S STRENGTHS
In a recent episode of his Grange TV Podcast, Whittaker discussed some of Adesanya's biggest strengths. 

Check out what he had to say here. 

UFC 243 PRESS CONFERENCE IN MELBOURNE
The first stop on the promotional tour was a press conference in Melbourne on Thursday, August 15. 

It was a wild one, with Adesanya engaging in a foul-mouthed back-and-forth with a fan. 

Check it out here. 
TAI TUIVASA PROMISES TO THROW DOWN AT UFC 243
After two losses on the bounce, Tai Tuivasa says he's getting back to what he does best: letting his hands go. 

The Western Sydney heavyweight is coming off losses to Junior dos Santos and Blagoy Ivanov, and is looking to get back to winning ways against Sergey Spivak. 

The Moldovan has had one fight in the UFC - a loss to Walt Harris.

Check out Sporting News' exclusive chat with Tuivasa after his fight was announced right here. 


ISRAEL ADESANYA SIGNS WITH PARADIGM SPORTS MANAGEMENT 
Israel Adesanya solidified his reputatiton as one of the biggest names in the sport by signing with leading representative company Paradigm Sports Management. 

The company, headed by agent Audie Attar, also represents Conor McGregor, Cris Cyborg, Stephen Thompson and Michael Bisping. 

Read more about the move right here. 

UFC 243: HOLLY HOLM VS RAQUEL PENNINGTON ADDED TO FIGHT CARD
Holly Holm will return to the place she earned the biggest win of her career when she rematches Raquel Pennington at UFC 243. 

Marvel Stadium, then called Etihad Stadium, was where Holm shocked the world by knocking Rousey out inside two rounds.  


 

UFC 243: DAN HOOKER TO FIGHT AL IAQUINTA
After a month or so of back-and-forth on social media, the pair have finally put pen to paper. 

Hooker is coming off a spectacular first round knockout win over James Vick, with Iaquinta quick to call him out on Twitter.

There were a few negotiations to get through, but we have confirmation that the fight is going ahed. 

JAKE MATTHEWS TO FIGHT AT UFC 243
Melbourne's Jake Matthews is making his Octagon comeback in front of his home fans against Rostam Akman.

Matthews most recently lost to Rocco Martin by submission in Adelaide last year, but before that was on a tear after returning to welterweight. 

Sporting News was on hand to witness Matthews' last win, a slick first round submission victory over Shinzo Anzai in Singapore last year. 

Read about it here. 

KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV BEATS DUSTIN POIRIER AT UFC 242
Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov defended his 155-pound title with a third round submission win over Dustin Poirier at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi. 

It was a classic Khabib performance, applying pressure early before locking in a rear-naked choke for the win to extend his victorious streak in the UFC to 12 fights. 

There's a few potential opponents for 'The Eagle' now, with Tony Ferguson an obvious one. 

But a former foe has also put his hand up. 

Read more about it here. 

BRAD 'QUAKE' RIDDELL ADDED TO UFC 243 CARD 
New Zealand will have another representative in Melbourne, with Christchurch fighter Brad Riddell being added to the card for his UFC debut. 

Riddell trains alongside the likes of Adesanya, Hooker and Kai Kara-France at City Kickboxing in Auckland and his debut in the UFC has been a long time coming. 

Riddell has been a favourite on the local scene for a few years and will drop down to lightweight for this fight. 

Riddell has cornered plenty of his CKB teammates in the UFC, and is Alex Volkanovski's striking coach. It was Riddell who accidentally wrecked Volkanovski's rib ahead of the Sydney-sider's win over Darren Elkins last year. 

Riddell will be fighting an Australia, Jamie Mullarkey, who is also making his promotional debut. 

Alex Volkanovski to fight Max Holloway at UFC 245
There were once hopes Sydney's own Alex Volkanovski would be added to this card in a featherweight title fight opposite Max Holloway, but after the Hawaiian's July bout with Frankie Edgar, the turnaround was deemed too short. 

But, there is good news, with Volkanovski signing on to fight for the 145 pound title at UFC 245 on December 15 in Las Vegas.