Ilia Topuria proved he could walk the walk as well as talk the talk in the UFC 298 main event, defeating Alexander Volkanovski in the second round to become the new UFC Featherweight Champion.
The main event lived up to all expectations and answered the questions so many people had of if Topuria was ready for the challenge of taking on long time champ Volkanovski, in only his seventh bout in the promotion.
Volkanovski started well, keeping busy and looking to keep Topuria at bay, but the immense power of the challenger was always a threat and a booming leg kick which sent the champion stumbling, proved as much.
Pre-fight, Volkanovski admitted he was well aware of the boxing power Topuria possessed and was something he would certainly need to watch out for. Unfortunately for the champion, the boxing prowess of ‘El Matador’ proved pivotal when after a combination pushed Volkanovski up against the cage, a thunderous right hook landed clean on the jaw of the champ, sending him crashing to the mat and the bout was over.
In the co-main event, Robert Whittaker landed back in the win column with a decision win against Paulo Costa, but it wasn’t without issues.
With just seconds left in the first round, Costa landed a spinning heel kick flush on the chin of Whittaker which sent him dancing across the cage but the Australian managed to survive and make it back to his stool for some much needed recuperation. It appeared that the time away from competition appeared to impact Costa, as he started to slow down as Whittaker then took the next two rounds comfortably on all three judges' scorecards and cruised to a unanimous decision.
Ian Machado Garry continued his unbeaten run in a very closely contested bout against Geoff Neal. Although the momentum has always surrounded Machado Garry, the way in which UFC fans now perceive the athlete has changed somewhat. It felt like there was more pressure on the 26-year-old’s shoulders, to perform than ever before. It is common knowledge that the Irishman has fantastic striking and keen to avoid it, Neal looked to clinch at any possible opportunity throughout the bout which led to a frustrating opening two frames. Neal’s coach pleaded with him to try and push the action in the third but this played into Machado Garry’s game and the Irishman walked away with a 30-27, 30-27, 28-29 split decision win.
It appears to be the end of the road for the former two weight division champion Henry Cejudo as he dropped a unanimous decision to the formidable Merab Dvalishvili. The Georgian’s relentless pace and forward pressure proved to be too much for ‘Triple C’. After taking the first round, Cejudo simply couldn’t match the work rate Dvalishvili brings into every single fight and throughout the second and third this became increasingly evident as Dvalishvili took both rounds and secured the win.
Anthony Hernandez extended his impressive win streak to 5 with a second round submission win over Roman Kopylov to round out the main card.
The Fight of the Night bonus correctly went to Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Lemos who put on an absolute war in the featured prelim. After a tough two opening rounds for Dern, she looked to rally in the third but it was too little too late and Lemos took the unanimous decision win.
Other standouts on the prelim section of the card included Marcos Rogerio de Lima beating the late call up, Junior Tafa, with brutal leg kicks and Mingyang Zhang stunning Brendson Ribiero with a TKO stoppage in the first round.
Full list of results:
Ilia Topuria defeats Alexander Volkanovski by KO (right hand) at 3:32 of Round 2
Robert Whittaker defeats Paulo Costa by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Ian Machado Garry defeats Geoff Neal by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
Merab Dvalishvili defeats Henry Cejudo by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Anthony Hernandez defeats Roman Kopylov by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:23 of Round 2
Amanda Lemos defeats Mackenzie Dern by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Marcos Rogerio de Lima defeats Junior Tafa by TKO (low kick) at 1:14 of Round 2
Rinya Nakamura defeats Carlos Vera by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Zhang Mingyang defeats Brendson Ribeiro by KO (left hand) at 1:41 of Round 1
Danny Barlow defeats Josh Quinlan by TKO (strikes) at 1:18 of Round 3
Oban Elliott defeats Val Woodburn by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Miranda Maverick defeats Andrea Lee by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
