UFC 243 Fight Night Betting and Odds Preview – October 6, 2019

Current UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker will fight it out with interim champion Israel Adesanya in the headliner fight at UFC 243 Fight Night. The event will take place on October 6 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. The venue is close to the homes of both fighters as they reside in Australia and New Zealand respectively. However, only one of these home favourites will triumph in what seems to be a very tightly contested fight.

Robert Whittaker comes into the fight as a slight favourite and the 28-year old will try to extend his winning streak by beating Adesanya in this title unification bout. That winning streak goes all the way back to 28 June 2014 and currently includes 9 consecutive victories. In fact, the last time Whittaker tasted defeat was on 22 February 2014.

Furthermore, Whittaker has only 4 losses and 20 victories in a professional career spanning more than ten years. Something which is particularly important for his fight against Adesanya is the fact that he has suffered defeat only once when fighting on Australian soil. And even that was back in 2012.

Israel Adesanya on the other hand, made his professional debut in 2012. The Nigerian-born New Zealander had an impressive amateur career before he became a professional and continued in the same vein when he turned pro. In fact, he had a record of 11-0 before he was signed by the UFC in December 2017.

One thing which makes Adesanya’s career so impressive is the fact that he hasn’t suffered a defeat in his entire professional career. His current pro record is 17 wins from 17 matches. What’s more impressive though is that 13 of those 17 victories came courtesy of a knockout. In the UFC, Adesanya has won all of his six fights so far, in three of those he won the bonus for Performance of the Night, while in the last one against Kevin Gastelum he won the interim UFC Middleweight Championship.

The Whittaker vs Adesanya bout has caused quite a stir with bookmakers and it is noticeable that betting operators are trying to offer some very competitive UFC odds for this fight. Let’s take a look at some of the best odds offered by reputable bookmakers.

Unibet

Unibet is a reputable betting operator which always tries to offer its clients the best betting opportunities possible. It constantly offers odds boosts, cashback chances, and is known for protecting clients initial betting slips against losses with a policy of returning deposits if the first betting slip is a losing one.

When it comes to UFC betting, Unibet always tries to offer punters the best odds possible. This is evident from the fact that both Whittaker and Adesanya are given comparatively higher odds. Whittaker is the slight favourite, but Adesanya isn’t trailing far behind. Unibet values Robert Whittaker at 7/10, while Israel Adesanya is priced at 23/20.

These UFC odds are indicative of a betting operator which feels that the reigning champion will probably edge the fight at the end of the day, but does not disregard Adesanya in any way. The slightly higher odds which Israel Adesanya is given compared to other betting operators shouldn’t be taken as an indicator that Unibet doesn’t believe in the current Interim Middleweight Champion. As we already said, they are only indicative of a betting operator which offers the best fight odds for all competitors.

Betway

Betway has a similar stance to the Robert Whittaker vs Israel Adesanya fight in terms of who is the favourite. Whittaker, also known as The Reaper, is a slight favourite to win this fight with Betway as well, but Adesanya is not without his chances. Whittaker is given odds of 4/6, while Adesanya stantds at 11/10 with Betway.

Lots of people say that these odds are unfairly tilted in Whittaker’s favour simply because he is the reigning champion. They go on to say that Israel Adesanya is one of the finest UFC fighters to have ever entered the cage and his relatively higher odds are only because of his shorter UFC career and Interim Champion title.

They certainly have a point and world-renowned UFC fighters such as Uriah Hall describe him as ‘one of the best’ out there. His personality and ambition match his physical strength and one would expect to see him much higher than the 14th spot on the UFC ladder sooner rather than later.

This in turn means that betting enthusiasts can use these generous Adesanya odds to make quite a profit. Backing The Last Stylebender, as he is affectionately known, is a great deal at Betway.

Sports Interaction

Sports Interaction is a betting operator which specializes in offering UFC betting markets and propositions. This is what makes them different than other sports betting operators.

However, for this fight, they seem to have gone the same way that everyone is going and their odds are similar to what others are offering. Their favourite is the reigning Middleweight Champion, but they are not very confident that he will definitely triumph so they give him only slightly higher odds than the Nigerian-born Adesanya. At Sports Interaction, Robert Whittaker is valued at odds of 37/50, while Israel Adesanya stands at odds of 21/20.

Whittaker was forced to withdraw from his title defense against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 234 and that was only the latest of several high-profile withdrawals that he has been forced to make. This means that even though he will be the star of the show at Marvel Stadium, he will in no way be a clear favourite against a fit and raring to go Israel Adesanya.

Royal Panda

Royal Panda excels in providing competitive UFC betting odds. The bout between Whittaker and Adesanya is a prime example of this. Compared to other bookmakers, both of these fighters get higher odds at Royal Panda. Robert Whittaker is valued at 7/10 and Israel Adesanya is given odds of 23/20 at Royal Panda.

Israel Adesanya is a known anime lover and his style of fighting is often compared to that of Naruto. His rise towards the top certainly is quite similar to Naruto’s pursuit of recognition. However, to fully achieve this, Adesanya will have to triumph over Robert Whittaker, something which is easier said than done.

Whittaker was in the same spot that Adesanya is in now as he too was an Interim Middleweight Champion. However, what currently differentiates the two fighters is the fact that Whittaker turned that Interim status into a real UFC Middleweight Champion title and Adesanya is not there yet.

Pinnacle

The people at Pinnacle work hard to offer their players the best possible odds and their offer of UFC odds is a good example of this. Both Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya are given enticing odds which can be quite profitable for punters backing either one of the two fighters.

As with other betting operators Robert Whittaker is a slight favourite and Israel Adesanya trails a little behind his more experienced UFC rival. At Pinnacle, Whitaker is the favourite with odds of 18/25, while Israel Adesanya is on higher odds of 123/100.

The favourite, Whittaker, is a professed patriot and he will certainly relish the opportunity to unify the Middleweight Championship title on home soil. Fighting in the octagon in front of 40,000 faithful fans will definitely be enough of an incentive for The Reaper to take the scalp of yet another victim. Israel Adesanya is a rising UFC star, but he will have one of the best in the sport against him here.