18 February 2024 , 05:59
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Ilia Topuria knocked Alex Volkanovski out cold to become the new UFC featherweight champion.
Volkanovski came into the fight having been knocked out for the first time in his career when he lost to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in their UFC 294 rematch last October. Topuria was unbeaten in 14 fights and set himself up for a world title fight by battering Josh Emmett over five rounds in his last outing.
Topuria had a slow start and barely threw any strikes in the opening minute whilst Volkanovski was picking away with lots of low kicks. The challenger started to up his output and Volkanovski almost lost his footing after taking a hard leg kick. Topuria landed a good one-two in the second round as Volkanovski was almost punished for leaving his chin in the air.
Volkanovski was starting to find success with his jab in the second round but Topuria backed the champion up against the fence with a flurry of punches and knocked him unconscious with an overhand right. “I feel so happy right now, they are going to tell you that you can’t do it but the only person you need to believe is yourself," Topuria said after his win.
"Trust yourself work hard and everything is possible, look at me now. I know my skills, I work so hard for this. It was knowing always that one day I will become UFC world champion. It doesn’t matter where you come from, what’s infant of you is more important. It’s showtime, it’s time to bring the UFC to Spain. Conor McGregor if you still have some balls, I will be waiting for you in Spain.
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Volkanovski thankfully got back to his feet and was in good spirits despite his devastating knockout loss. “He obviously has power in his hands and we knew we had to be careful of that. Well done to him, we caught me. He wasn’t meant to land like that but he did. Maybe we do a rematch over there in Spain," he said.
What were your thoughts on Ilia Topuria knocking out Alex Volkanovski? Let us know in the comments section below
Elsewhere on the UFC 298 card, Robert Whittaker won a decision against Paulo Costa in the co-main event. Whittaker was hurt badly at the end of the opening round after Costa landed a spinning head kick but the former middleweight world champion responded well to win the next two rounds and get the nod.
Ian Garry extended his unbeaten streak to 14 fights with an underwhelming points win against Geoff Neal. Merab Dvalishvili moved one step closer to a bantamweight world title shot with a one-sided win against former two-weight champion Henry Cejudo. Anthony Hernandez also picked up his fifth consecutive win by tapping out top middleweight prospect Roman Kopylov.
On the preliminary card, Amanda Lemos won a decision against Mackenzie Dern and Junior Tafa, who replaced his brother Justin on just a day's notice, was knocked out by Marcos Rogério de Lima. Zhang Mingyang called out Alex Pereira after knocking out Brendson Ribero on the prelims whilst Welshman Oban Elliott picked up his first UFC win by beating Val Woodburn.