UFC 243: Whittaker vs. Adesanya Odds, Tickets, Predictions and Pre-Fight Hype
Melbourne, Australia, will serve as the backdrop for a massive middleweight title fight between Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya at UFC 243.
The two New Zealand fighters have slugged their way to the top of the division, and Australia works as a fitting location for a highly hyped matchup.
Whittaker returns from a lengthy sabbatical that has lasted over a year. He was forced to withdraw from a bout against Kelvin Gastelum for emergency surgery on an abdominal hernia and will now return to action.
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In that time, Adesanya has made himself the clear-cut No. 1 contender with a win over Gastelum.
In the co-main event slot is an important matchup of lightweight contenders. Al Iaquinta looks to bounce back from a loss to Donald Cerrone against Dan Hooker. Hooker will have the home advantage, but Iaquinta has proved to be a high-quality opponent to some of the best in the division.
It's a card chock-full of talent from Australia and New Zealand for the Melbourne crowd, and it should serve as a great opportunity for that talent to showcase itself. Here's a look at all of what Saturday has to offer.
Tickets: StubHub
Main Card (pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
- Champ Robert Whittaker (-125; bet $125 to win $100) vs. Interim champ Israel Adesanya (-105) for the middleweight championship
- Dan Hooker vs. Al Iaquinta
- Sergey Spivak vs. Tai Tuivasa
- Luke Jumeau vs. Dhiego Lima
- Yorgan De Castro vs. Justin Tafa
Preliminary Card (ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET)
- Rostem Akman vs. Jake Matthews
- Maki Pitolo vs. Callan Potter
- Jamie Mullarkey vs. Brad Riddell
- Megan Anderson vs. Zarah Fairn dos Santos
Preliminary Card (ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET)
- Nadia Kassem vs. Ji Yeon Kim
- Bruno Silva vs. Khalid Taha
Odds via Caesars.
Whittaker Looking to Kelvin Gastelum as Blueprint to Defeat Adesanya
Israel Adesanya has yet to experience defeat in his UFC career. His rise in the UFC has seen him overcome every challenger thrown his way, but it wasn't easy the last time out.
Kelvin Gastelum pushed Adesanya more than he's been pushed in his career. The Last Stylebender earned the unanimous nod from the judges but not before Gastelum made the fight competitive enough to win Fight of the Night honors.
In that fight, the 5'9" Gastelum was able to close the distance on the rangy Adesanya and land critical strikes on the inside. It's a recipe that the bigger Whittaker believes he'll be able to take advantage of in their upcoming bout.
"I think people underestimate Adesanya’s wrestling," Whittaker said of his UFC 243 opponent, per Cole Shelton of BJPenn.com. "Adesanya’s wrestling—he is a big guy, long arms, and he wrestles and trains in it a lot. I don’t underestimate that. But, what I took from the fight was Gastelum was able to close that gap and land shots on his chin. I am much quicker than Gastelum, taller than Gastelum, have longer arms than Gastelum. If Gastelum can hit him, I can hit him."
Whittaker's reach is one-inch shorter than Gastelum, but he does stand three inches taller. The champion's striking game is much more refined too and that could spell problems for Adesanya.
Adesanya is as electric a striker as you'll see in the sport. He's risen to the top of the weight class with a striking game that is equal parts effective and fun. However, Whittaker is the best the division has to offer and Gastelum showed that defensively Adesanya isn't elite.
Prediction: Whittaker via decision
Iaquinta Out to Prove Skill, Not Toughness, in Co-Main Event
Sometimes "tough" can be a back-handed compliment. In MMA, it's often code for "this guy isn't all that skilled, but he can take a lot of punishment."
For example, Ragin' Al was labeled as "tough" after a hard-fought decision loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov. As in, "hey, you lost to a vastly superior fighter, but he couldn't finish you." The label again applied as Iaquinta dropped a Fight of the Night decision to Donald Cerrone.
That's why the New Yorker is looking to showcase his skill against a much less accomplished opponent in Hooker.
"My toughness is always going to be there," Iaquinta said, per Farah Hannoun and John Morgan of MMAjunkie. "But I think a few fights that I had to use the toughness, the toughness really came out, but I think that in this one, the way that the style matchup is going to work out, it’s not going to be that case. You’re really going to see how good I am."
Hooker has been on a roll lately with a 5-1 record in his last six fights and five finishes to his name, but he hasn't seen the competition that Iaquinta has of late. This is a good opportunity for Iaquinta to back up the talk and show that he still deserves to be in the mix with the best the lightweight division has to offer.
Prediction: Iaquinta via third-round TKO
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