The lengthy title reign of Alexander Volkanvoski came to a sudden conclusion on Saturday night, as a right hand from Ilia Topuria caused the long-time champ to come crashing down onto the canvas at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, USA.
Topuria protected his undefeated record and became the new UFC Featherweight Champion this weekend, overcoming Volkanovski in the main event of UFC 298.
Topuria’s stoppage win came after just more than one-and-a-half rounds of slow and methodical striking from both featherweights. Earlier moments in the bout involved a low output as the fighters tried to figure each other out. Instead of long combinations, the two threw singular kicks or jabs.
Topuria came charging forward with a series of hooks in the second round, partially connecting with a left hand. He then scored with a right hook that instantly knocked Volkanovski out, causing referee Jason Herzog to intervene.
The UFC 298 main event result ended the second-longest championship run in the featherweight division’s history. Volkanovski defended his title five times since initially earning it in 2019. His time on top included victories over Max Holloway, Yair Rodriguez, and Brian Ortega.
Amid a period in the UFC where most belts have changed hands frequently, Volkanovski was a consistent fighter. Heading into this weekend, just three of the 11 current UFC titleholders had defended their belt more than once. Volkanovski defended his title as many times as all of the current male champions combined.
But the story of Volkanovski cannot be told without his tough 2023, which saw him suffer two losses amid an attempt at becoming a two-division champion. He lost to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev twice, including a short-notice bout in October 2023 where he was stopped in the first round with strikes.
It’s hard to tell what is next for Volkanovski after Saturday. During a post-fight interview, he called for a rematch against Topuria. However, after getting stopped in his past two fights, it’s hard to tell if that wish will be fulfilled.
With Volkanovski’s reign now over, the focus is on Topuria, a 27-year-old who represents Georgia and Spain. Topuria was given a title shot after attaining a half-dozen wins in the UFC. He went five rounds against former interim title challenger Josh Emmett last year, beating him via unanimous decision. Before then, he had wins over names like Bryce Mitchell and Damon Jackson.
A new champion opens up a variety of potential first-time matchups for the belt. For example, Two former opponents of Volkanovski, Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez are scheduled to meet up next week in a five-round co-main event. The winner of that match might be the next contender for “El Matador.”
Robert Whittaker bounces back against Paulo Costa, eyes title with Dricus Du Plessis rematch
Former UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker had a competitive performance against returning contender Paulo Costa, gutting out a unanimous decision victory after a three-round striking battle.
Whittaker had a significantly higher output than Costa throughout the fight. In the first and second rounds, he exploded forward with combinations of punches. He also constantly connected with leg kicks to Costa, causing the Brazilian fighter’s corner to warn him about the shots before the third round.
Costa was certainly a hard fight for Whittaker. He stole the first round on two scorecards, likely due to a spinning backkick that he landed in the closing moments of the frame. He continued to have strong moments later in the fight, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the veteran.
Whittaker now has his eyes on a rematch against UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis. Whittaker suffered a finish loss to Du Plessis last year, getting finished in the second round due to strikes. Du Plessis has since dethroned Sean Strickland to claim a UFC belt.
While Whittaker is undoubtedly one of the top names at middleweight, it’s hard to tell how the title picture in the division will play out. Despite former champ Israel Adesanya saying last year that he wants to be away from the sport for a “long time,” his coach claims that he’s ready to return. And it’s unknown if Strickland will receive a rematch, which is certainly a possibility considering that his loss to Du Plessis was a close split decision result with a margin of just one round on all three scorecards.
Saturday was a return for Costa, who had been out of the cage since his August 2022 win over Luke Rockhold. He has historically struggled against the top names at middleweight: He had an unsuccessful title fight against Israel Adesanya in 2020 and lost a five-round decision to Marvin Vettori a year later.
Ian Machado Garry keeps undefeated record intact with slow-paced win
Ian Machado Garry kept his climb up the welterweight rankings alive by overcoming Geoff Neal in a low-output fight that wasn’t well received by the Anaheim crowd.
Machado Garry’s striking gave him the slight edge in a split decision result that went his way. Despite Neal getting one of the scorecards in the arena, an overwhelming number of others saw the fight go Machado Garry’s way. 23 of the 25 media members submitting their scores to MMADecisions.com considered Machado Garry the winner of the fight.
Despite his performance on Saturday not being entirely noteworthy, it’s important to note that Machado Garry is still on the rise at welterweight. The 26-year-old now has an undefeated record of 14 wins, with half of those victories coming inside the UFC cage. Following his win, he called for a fight against Colby Covington, who he hopes to “retire.”
Neal has now suffered a pair of losses against tough names at welterweight. He was submitted by undefeated 170-pound contender Shavkat Rakhmonov last year, finding moments of success in that bout before getting stopped in the final minute.
Merab Dvalishvili makes strong case for title shot after win over Henry Cejudo
Merab Dvalishvili moved his winning streak to an impressive 10 in a row on Saturday night, overcoming former champ Henry Cejudo for a quality unanimous decision result.
Dvalishvili came back from a tough opening round to overcome Cejudo. The former flyweight and bantamweight champ had a strong start to the match both on the feet and on the feet.. Two minutes into the bout, a left hook from Cejudo rocked Dvalishvili. Cejudo was able to earn ground control later in the round, getting on the back of Dvalishvili.
Dvalishvili took the fight back in the second and third rounds. He controlled Cejudo for the final 10 minutes of the bout, taking him down and earning dominant positions on the canvas. Dvalishvili oozed confidence during these moments, at one point even talking to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — who was sitting octagon side — as the fight was going on.
The win likely sets Dvalishvili up for a title shot shortly. The UFC Bantamweight Championship will be defended next month by Sean O’Malley, who will put his title on the line against Marlon Vera. Once that fight is out of the way, it would make sense for Dvalishvili to get a title shot.
Dvalishvili is currently ranked second at bantamweight. Above him is Aljamain Sterling, who is moving up to featherweight later this year against Calvin Kattar. Davlishvili has now overcome three consecutive former champions, as he has beaten Petr Yan and Jose Aldo over the past two years.
The loss for Cejudo puts another bump in the road of his return from retirement. “Triple C” came back to MMA last year, competing for a title three years after he decided to walk away and vacate his bantamweight belt. But he was unsuccessful in his attempt at regaining gold, dropping a split decision to then-champ Sterling.
This weekend was a chance for Cejudo to potentially start his next campaign toward a title shot. But, with the loss to Dvalishvili, he is now farther away from a title fight than he has been in years.
A persistent gameplan pays off for Anthony Hernandez
The main card opened with a big win for rising middleweight Anthony Hernandez. In an example of how sticking to your gameplan is sometimes the right choice, Hernandez stubbornly tried for takedowns until it led him to a submission in the second round against Roman Koplov.
Hernandez spent all of the first round chasing a takedown but failed to get Kopylov to the canvas after numerous attempts. He continued to pursue takedowns as the fight crossed into the second round, enduring some hard shots on the feet from Kopylov along the way.
Once Hernandez finally got the fight to the ground, he was in total control. It wasn’t much longer before he got on the back of Kopylov to apply a rear naked choke. While the choke was fought off by Koplov for a while, he had to tap under it, and slipped under his chin.
Hernandez has been on his way up the middleweight standings for a few years. While his UFC career was start and stop for the first couple of years — attaining just one win in his first three appearances — he has since put together five consecutive wins. This streak includes a massive upset in 2021 against Rodolfo Vieira and a 2022 win against Marc-Andre Barriault.
Saturday ended the winning streak of Kopylov, who went on a streak of four finish wins since 2022.
Ranked strawweights, three debuts take place during UFC 298 prelims
Amanda Lemos picked up a solid victory in the featured prelim, overcoming a tough Mackenzie Dern on scorecards. Lemos used her striking to take the first two rounds of the fight, landing a pair of knockdowns in the opening frame. But a persistent Dern remained in the fight despite consuming a fair amount of damage, even scoring a knockdown of her own in the third round. The victory set Lemos back to her winning ways after losing a title fight to Zhang Weili last year.
Junior Tafa’s last-second addition to UFC 298 didn’t have a happy ending. After stepping in on less than 24 hours’ notice to replace his brother, Justin Tafa, Junior was stopped by heavyweight Marcos Rogerio de Lima on Saturday’s prelims. Leg kicks from Rogerio de Lima hurt Tafa significantly and were part of the finishing sequence in the second round. Tafa is now likely also out of his March 23 fight against Karl Williams.
Undefeated Japanese prospect Rinya Nakamura picked up win number nine of his professional career on Saturday, controlling grappler Carlos Vera on the ground to sweep scorecards. Vera was a short-notice opponent, replacing The Ultimate Fighter Season 29 finalist Brady Hiestand.
Zhang Mingyang entered the promotion with a bang on the prelims, landing a series of hard shots that put Brendson Ribeiro away in the first round. All 17 of Zhang’s pro wins — including a 2022 “Road To UFC” fight — have come via finish in the first round. He made an incredibly optimistic call-out of UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira during his post-fight interview.
Danny Barlow had a big performance in his first UFC win, stopping Josh Quinlan late. Barlow had control of the fight on the feet in the first and second rounds, then closed the show after Quinlan tried to be more aggressive in the closing minutes. An advancing Quinlan ate a brutal left hook in the third round, kicking off a flurry of shots from Barlow that caused referee Jason Herzog to wave off the fight. Barlow’s undefeated record now includes a UFC victory.
Oban Elliott won his UFC debut in a unanimous decision result, using his large amount of ground control to avoid the hectic striking of Val Woodburn. Elliott earned a UFC contract last year after winning on “Dana White’s Contender Series.” Before then, he had a series of wins in notable European promotion Cage Warriors.
Miranda Maverick opened the night win a win against ranked flyweight Andrea Lee, getting the better of striking exchanges to earn the decision nod. Maverick has put together five wins through her past four appearances. On the other hand, Lee has now dropped four consecutive fights.
