Key takeaways
Israel Adesanya beat Robert Whittaker by knockout at 3:33 of round two in the main event of UFC 243 at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. Robert Whittaker had come in as the division's No. 10. In the co-main event, Dan Hooker beat Al Iaquinta by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Across the ten bouts that produced a result, three ended by knockout, two by submission and five on the judges' scorecards — five stoppages in ten fights. One of the five decisions divided the judges.
The quickest finish belonged to Yorgan De Castro, who stopped Justin Tafa at 2:10 of round one, and two of the five finishes came inside the opening round. The longest was Ji Yeon Kim's knockout of Nadia Kassem, 9 minutes and 59 seconds in. End to end, the ten fights filled one hour and 48 minutes of cage time.
The main card finished at the higher rate: three of five, against two of the five below it. Megan Anderson (submission, round one) and Ji Yeon Kim (knockout, round two) all closed before the judges were needed.
Four ranked fighters appeared, and three of them were in the top two bouts. The only other ranked name was Serghei Spivac, No. 6 at heavyweight.
