Interim champion Israel Adesanya dethroned UFC middleweight titleholder Robert Whittaker with a stunning knockout in the second round of their UFC 243 bout at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium.
The event attracted a UFC world-record crowd of 57,127, eclipsing the previous best of 56,214 at the same venue for UFC 193.
New Zealand-based Adesanya floored Australia’s Whittaker with a right hook in the final seconds of the first round and ended their 185-pound unification bout with a left hook in the second of the five-round contest.
“Hats off to Adesanya, a great striker,” Whittaker said. “I felt I was doing pretty well until you get caught. I’m only 28. I’ve still got a fight or two yet … I’m not going anywhere.” It was Whittaker’s first fight since June 2018 in Chicago. The 28-year-old was scheduled to fight in February but withdrew due to emergency bowel surgery.
Neither man landed a lot in the first round until Adesanya’s big right at the end. The Nigerian-born fighter showed great evasive skills, avoiding plenty of kicks and punches, though Whittaker did land a few right-hand strikes.
“He threw everything we expected,” Adesanya said. “We had everything planned for plan A to Z. It’s unreal, they said I have no knockout power. He caught me with a nice one but I returned. I eat it but give it back two times. I hate to get hit. It’s stupid to get hit. I’m tough and smart. At the end of the day, my team and I were smart.”
Interim champion Adesanya improved his MMA record to 18-0 and won the undisputed title in just his seventh UFC bout, all of them inside the past two years.
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It was Whittaker’s first loss in 10 bouts and in more than five years, with his MMA record dropping to 20-5.