Midnight Mania! Whittaker Opens As Small Favorite Opposite ‘Stylebender’

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

The wheels are in motion for UFC 243, which is set to take place in Australia on October 5th. The headlining bout of Robert Whittaker vs. Israel Adesanya was made official earlier today, and the two faced off earlier today at the summer press conference as well.

As such, the betting odds have released as well on Fanduel Sportsbook, which sets Robert Whittaker as a -138 favorite. For those looking to bet on the interim champion to unify the crown, the odds on Adesanya snatching another strap come back at +114.

Those are fair odds in my opinion, unlikely to change all that much. Whittaker is undefeated as a Middleweight and hasn’t actually lost since 2014 despite facing Yoel Romero twice in that time. The champion deserves all the credit in the world and should be a pound-for-pound great based on his skill set. Whittaker’s success takes nothing away from Adesanya though, whose incredibly quick rise from both a ranking and skill perspective is unique and promises great things about his ceiling.

Adding a bit of extra intrigue to this match up is the clash of personalities. Whittaker has remained reserved and calm so far, but Adesanya is proving an excellent foil with his humorous and antagonistic personality. None of that should really be necessary to sell the fight given just how amazing the last few Middleweight title fights have been, but hopefully it makes them both a few extra dollars.

It’s going to be an awesome fight!

Insomnia

This is my personal main event.

Dana White explains the decision to release John Lineker.

Praise be.

More commentators should follow Felder’s example. For example, Dominick Cruz can be pretty biased when talking about his Alliance team mates even if I’m a fan of his commentary overall.

Great side-by-side from the legend.

Diego Sanchez is in rare form this week.

Nunes growing more and more personable each week! This is really cool content.

“Wonderboy” is clearly willing to suffer for his good looks.

Slips, rips, and KO Clips

For real, listen to this body kick.

One punch!

A great example of a hard cross from the open side in the opposite stance engagement.

Right on the button!

Random Land

The greatest television show of all time turned 30 today. Pay your respects!

Midnight Music: One of my favorite songs, from one of my favorite albums, from one of my favorite bands. 1978’s Some Girls is widely considered the last great Rolling Stones album, and it’s actually my favorite over any of their big four (by a slim, slim margin).

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.