Sensation at UFC 298: “Matador” Topuria falls legend Volkanovski

Four-punch combo for the UFC title
“Matador” Topuria overthrows “Alexander the Great”

February 18, 2024, 7:43 a.m

For four years, cage fighter Alex Volkanovski has been the ultimate in the UFC’s featherweight division. Opponents regularly bite their teeth into the 36-year-old Australian. Now the long-standing champion is caught off guard by an up-and-coming fighter.

Sensation at UFC 298: The MMA event in Anaheim, California ends with a bang. Georgian challenger Ilia Topuria coldly knocked out long-time featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in the second round. The 27-year-old remains undefeated in his 14th professional fight; his opponent has held the title since December 2019.

In the title fight, which was scheduled to last five rounds, the first five minutes seemed like a fumble. However, “Matador” Topuria was able to land effective hits with kicks to the Australian’s calf. Alex “The Great” Volkanovski had a highlight hit in his repertoire with a left straight. So far there has been little to see of the dangerous advances of Topria, who was born in Westphalia. But that changed at the beginning of the second round: Here the first advance was successful, a combination from the Georgian found its target, but left little impression on Volkanovski, who from then on worked with jabs.

A further advance then ensured the decision was in favor of the challenger. Topuria went for a four-punch combination and pushed Volkanovski back. Three of the swings went nowhere, one landed right on the chin of the champion, whose lights went out immediately. The fight was decided, the UFC has a new title holder.

“I know my abilities. I knew that one day I would be UFC champion,” said the Georgian after the fight. He wants the UFC to come to Spain, the country where Topuria has lived since his youth. As an opponent he would like none other than Conor McGregor. “He got me,” Volkanovski admitted. “He throws hard punches, I knew that. Maybe we should have a rematch in Spain,” said the dethroned former champ.

Whittaker and Costa exchange blows

The co-main event in the Honda Arena promised a small fireworks display: Robert Whittaker had to get back on the road to victory after his defeat against current champion Dricus Du Plessis; the Brazilian Paulo Costa has been chasing the middleweight title for a long time. Both are considered outstanding strikers. The Brazilian opened the round with cracking jabs and showed surprising speed advantages. His Australian opponent hit Costa’s leg with several hard kicks, where severe swelling appeared. But the Brazilian put the exclamation mark at the end of the round with a swinging head kick – Whittaker was shaken violently, only the gong saved him from further hits.

Whittaker showed his fight IQ in round two. The Australian worked on his opponent’s leg, repeatedly landing combinations, while Costa was only able to land a few hits. But he remained dangerous with head kicks, all of which were ineffective in this round. The third lap was even, but had significantly less speed. Both Costa and Whittaker had to pay tribute to the numerous goals. Above all, the swollen leg limited the Brazilian’s advances, who was overall inferior to his opponent after significant hits. That’s how the judges saw it after three intense rounds. Victory went to the Australian with 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27.

Ian Machado Garry gets into trouble for the first time

The rising welterweight star is having problems for the first time. The American Geoff Neal became a challenge for the still unbeaten Ian Garry. The Irishman relied primarily on his sense of distance, but in the first round he repeatedly caught kicks to the calf and combinations from Neal. The 33-year-old, in turn, tried to bridge the distance, but received hits in the same pattern: Garry intercepted the advances with a knee to the body and followed up with a clean hook.

In the second round, Garry was also the more agile fighter, circling around Neal again and again, throwing in kicks to the body and head, which were blocked by Neal but still had an effect. The American made his mark with one-two combinations, but then ended up in the clinch against the cage, where he could hardly do any damage. In round three, Garry simply outboxed his opponent. At the end of the round it was the mass of easy hits that gave the Irishman the advantage. However, the three judges saw the duel as very close. Garry won his 14th professional fight by split decision – one of the judges saw Neal as the winner, two judged in favor of the 26-year-old opponent.

Garry said after the fight that he was aware that in Neal he had one of the toughest opponents in his weight class in front of him. The Irishman, who will thus climb higher in the rankings, then challenged Colby Covington, the self-proclaimed favorite fighter of former President Donald Trump.