Promotions
Banking
VIP Club
- The middleweight title unification bout everyone's been waiting for stars in UFC 243 as Robert Whittaker defends his belt against interim champion Israel Adesanya.
- The main card also includes two great fights between Al Iaquinta vs. Dan Hooker and Tai Tuivasa vs. Sergey Spivak.
UFC 243: Robert Whittaker vs. Israel Adesanya
- When: Saturday, October 5, 2019
- Where: The Arena on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- UFC Odds: Robert Whittaker -138 vs. Israel Adesanya +118
#UFC243
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) September 30, 2019
Is that us?...that’s us then!!
pic.twitter.com/AP90sjAYuj
Whittaker vs. Adesanya
Analysis: “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya has taken the UFC by storm and this fight against Robert “The Reaper” Whittaker is the last step towards domination in this weight class.
After defeating Kelvin Gastelum, Israel Adesanya is confident he’ll take the belt from Whittaker. Given the fact Whittaker has fought once since July 2017, Adesanya should be in better fighting shape.
Adesanya’s battle against Gastelum went the full five rounds, but toward the end, Gastelum tired out, and Adesanya found his range and picked his shots. But, Whittaker has much better cardio, so he’ll stay in the fight strong even if it goes the distance.
Adesanya has a significant arm-reach advantage over Whittaker, but we did see how Gastelum was able to close the distance and crack Adesanya in the first round, so it’s something that Adesanya has to think of.
Pick: Adesanya by unanimous decision.
Al Iaquinta vs. Dan Hooker
UFC Odds: Dan Hooker -135 vs. Al Iaquinta +105
Analysis: It’s America versus Australia when Al Iaquinta faces Dan Hooker in the octagon for the UFC 243 co-main event.
Iaquinta has lost two of his last three fights, but one of those loses was to Khabib Nurmagomedov, so there’s no lack of credit to Iaquinta. “Raging” Al Iaquinta fought well against Kevin Lee, but then came undone against Donald Cerrone, who outclassed him standing up.
On the other hand, Hooker has gone through tough opponents, submitting Marc Diakese, and beating Ross Pearson, Jim Miller, Gilbert Burns, and James Vick. His lost to Edson Barboza, but apart from that, he’s solid.
This fight is not one that will go to the ground as both fighters have proved that if they can finish the fight via a knockout that’s what they’ll look for.
Pick: Iaquinta via knockout.
Tai Tuivasa vs. Sergey Spivak
UFC Odds: Tai Tuivasa -260 vs. Serghei Spivac +200
Analysis: This fight is going to be a slugfest. Tuivasa lost his two last bouts but had strung together an 8-0 record to start his fighting career.
Spivak is also looking to get back on the saddle after losing for the first time in his career against Walt Harris via a first-round knockout.
Both of these fighters are aggressive and will look to knock the lights out of each other early. However, Spivak may also look to take the fight to the ground where he has a bit of an advantage.
Pick: Tuivasa via KO.
