Trio of Matchups Added to UFC 243 in Melbourne
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On Thursday, ESPN reported multiple additions to the UFC 243 card lineup, which takes place at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia on Oct. 8. First, heavyweights collide as hometown fighter Tai Tuivasa (8-2) faces Moldovan Sergey Spivak (9-1). Additionally, New Zealand native Luke Jumeau (13-4) will fight Brazil's Dhiego Lima (14-7) at welterweight. Finally, a pair of women's featherweights will do battle as Australia's own Megan Anderson (9-4) looks to bounce back from a submission loss when she meets the debuting Zarah Fairn dos Santos (6-2). All three are slated to take place on the preliminary card.
Tuivasa came into the UFC with a spotless 5-0 record with five first-round knockouts, and did more of the same when he demolished Rashad Coulter and Cyril Asker under the UFC banner. Although he won on the scorecards against Andrei Arlovski next, his last two outings have been unsuccessful, suffering his first career loss to Junior dos Santos before dropping a decision to Blagoy Ivanov.
Spivak has only reached the second round once in his career, when he tapped Dimitriy Mikutsa with an armbar in Round 2 back in 2015. Dropping his UFC debut to Walt Harris in just 50 seconds, the 24-year-old prospect looks to bounce back from his first career defeat by beating Tuivasa.
The Phuket Top Team product Jumeau has been out of action for over a year now, as a previously scheduled December matchup against Geoff Neal was scuttled due to an injury to "The Jedi." His opponent Lima finally appears to be on track as he has won his last two in the UFC cage against Chad Laprise and Court McGee. This his second stint with the Las Vegas-based promotion, Lima is making the most of it as these two wins are more than he put together in his previous six UFC fights.
Anderson has not an ideal run inside the Octagon to date, with her lone win by injury when she kicked Cat Zingano and her toe inadvertently went in Zingano's eye. That win was bookended by losses to Holly Holm and Felicia Spencer. Her adversary Dos Santos will be making her UFC debut on a three-fight win streak, where the Frenchwoman won all three of her bouts in 2017 and has not competed since.
UFC 243 will take place on Oct. 14 at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. Headlining the event is a middleweight title unification battle between champion Robert Whittaker and interim titlist Israel Adesanya. Additionally, heavyweight Yorgan De Castro will make his Octagon debut against Justin Tafa, while flyweights Nadia Kassem and Ji Yeon Kim will clash as well.
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