UFC 243: Israel Adesanya Puts Away Robert Whittaker to Unify The 185 Belts

Israel Adesanya is the UFC’s undisputed middleweight champ, as the awe-inspiring striker took out Robert Whittaker in the second round tonight at UFC 243.

Round one

Whittaker came with some big left hooks early. Moments later, the middleweights both winged huge shots that missed. Whittaker had some redness by his left eye not long in. The latter fired in several front kicks to the lead leg of Adesanya and the interim champ largely looked to counter. Adesanya threatened with a quickly fired head kick. In the final 30 seconds, the middleweights fired some huge shots. Right before the round’s horn, Adesanya sent Whittaker to the deck with a booming right. Wow.

Round two

Whittaker came out winging big hooks in round two. Adesanya stuck a couple more jabs. A couple of minutes in, Adesanya landed a nice right hook that bloodied the champ. Adesanya followed up with a flurry that had Whittaker backpedaling a bit. Whittaker tossed a couple of head kicks that missed, but landed with a right hand. In the ensuing exchange, Adesanya put Whittaker on the floor with a booming left hook to the chin. As he swarmed in to follow up, the fight was called. Adesanya is the undisputed, middleweight champ.

After the win, Adesyana called out top contender Paulo Costa, who was in attendance.

Here are the complete results for UFC 243, which went down in Melbourne, Australia.

Israel Adesanya def. Robert Whittaker via KO (punches) R2, 3:33

Dan Hooker def. Al Iaquinta via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)

Sergey Spivak def. Tai Tuivasa via technical submission (arm-triangle-choke) R2, 3:14

Dhiego Lima def. Luke Jumeau via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Yorgan De Castro def. Justin Tafa via knockout (punch) R1, 2:10

Jake Matthews def. Rostem Akman via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Callan Potter def. Maki Pitolo via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Brad Riddell def. Jamie Mullarkey via unanimous decision (29-27, 30-26, 30-26)

Megan Anderson def. Zarah Fairn via submission (triangle choke) R1, 3:57

Ji Yeon Kim def. Nadia Kassem via TKO (punches) R2, 4:59