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Robert Whittaker will look to defend his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight title this Saturday night (Oct. 5, 2019) when he takes on interim champion, Israel Adesanya, in the main event of UFC 243 in Melbourne, Australia.
It will be “The Reaper’s” first fight in over a year, and his first fight since mid-2017 against someone not named Yoel Romero. Indeed, Whittaker has faced “Soldier of God” in back-to-back outings. The duo initially met at UFC 213 back in July of 2017 in a back-and-forth war that ultimately earned Robert the interim title, which was later upped to the undisputed belt.
A year later, the two men found themselves locked inside the cage again, this time as the headlining bout at UFC 225. However, after Yoel missed weight, the bout was not considered a title fight, though it was still set of five rounds.
And once again, the hard-hitting combatants gave fight fans another war, as they each had their shining moments. In the end, the ringside judges ultimately gave Whittaker the razor-thing split decision, giving him two straight wins over one of the most dominant fighters in the game.
Now, “Bobby Knuckles” will look for his first official title defense when he faces the up-and-coming interim champion who is determined to breakthrough and start his own championship era.
To see the entire UFC 243: “Whittaker vs Adesanya” fight card click here.