Middleweight Title Fight Booked - UFC Headlines

A bout between Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya has been set and will ultimately declare an official undisputed middleweight champion. The title fight, set to main event UFC 243 on October 5 in Australia, will see Whittaker defend his championship against the interim champion Adesanya.

Whittaker, once an interim champion himself, was declared undisputed middleweight champion following the retirement of former middleweight champion Georges St. Pierre. Since then, Whittaker has fought only once and it was not a title defense. He fought Yoel Romero on June 9, 2018, but because Romero missed weight, the fight was a non-title fight. Whittaker won the bout via unanimous decision.

Whittaker was scheduled to make his first title defense at UFC 234 in February of this year against Kelvin Gastelum. All looked well until Whittaker had to pull out of the main event due to a hernia. He has not fought since.

Because of Whittaker’s UFC 234, pull-out, Israel Adesanya and Anderson Silva had their fight moved up to the main event slot. Adesanya defeated Silva by unanimous decision. Soon after, at UFC 236 on April 13, Adesanya faced off against Gastelum to determine a middleweight interim champion while Whittaker recovered. In a fight of the night battle, Adesanya edged out Gastelum to win a unanimous decision.

”Money” Mendes announces retirement

Former two-time featherweight title challenger and UFC veteran Chad Mendes has called it a career. Mendes last fought at UFC 232 where he lost via knockout to Alexander Volkanovski. The retirement announcement caps off an 11-year career in mixed martial arts.

Mendes retires at the age of 34 and with an official MMA record of 18-5. He lost his two title fights to Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor respectively – the former of which won him fight of the year for 2014.

Cormier wins first MMA ESPY award

UFC heavyweight champion, former light heavyweight champion, and color commentator Daniel Cormier has won the inaugural ESPY award for MMA Fighter of the Year. UFC was granted its own category at the awards following their recent partnership with the sports giant that is ESPN.

Cormier was up against interim-middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and double-champs Amanda Nunes and Henry Cejudo.

Santos on the shelf for the remainder of 2019

During his title fight at UFC 239 for the light heavyweight championship against champ Jon Jones, Thiago Santos suffered a plethora of injuries.

Commentators Jon Anik and Joe Rogan made multiple notes during the fight that Santos seemed off by the second round, alluding to a possible injury to the knee of the challenger. Those theories proved true as Santos and his team announced that he had suffered a complete blowout of his left knee, tearing the ACL, MCL, PCL, and meniscus. He will not compete for the rest of 2019 and possibly beyond.

Santos lost a split-decision to Jon Jones, becoming the first man in Jones’ career to do so.

New fights added to UFC Copenhagen

The UFC has added several bouts to the UFC Fight Night: Copenhagen card. The card, which takes place in Denmark on September 28, is expected to be headlined by a middleweight bout between Jack Hermansson and Jared Cannonier.

Added to the card is a light heavyweight fight between Ion Cutelaba and Khalil Rountree, a women’s bantamweight fight between Macy Chiasson and Lina Lansberg, as well as another light heavyweight fight between veteran Ovince St. Preux and Alan Amedovski.

UFC Fight Night: de Randamie vs Ladd results

Germaine de Randamie def. Aspen Ladd via KO (Round 1)

Urijah Faber def. Ricky Simon via KO (Round 1)

Josh Emmett def. Mirsad Bektic via KO (Round 1)

Karl Roberson def. Wellington Turman via split-decision

Marvin Vettori def. Cezar Ferreira via unanimous decision