UFC 298 will go down as a night to remember for Ilia
Topuria.
In addition to becoming the fifth featherweight champion in
promotion history, Topuria received a $50,000 “Performance of the
Night” bonus for his second-round knockout of Alexander
Volkanovski in Saturday’s headliner at the Honda Center in
Anaheim, California. A clean right hook from “El Matador” abruptly
ended what had been a competitive affair at the 3:32 mark of Round
2.
Elsewhere, Anthony
Hernandez garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award
for his submission victory against Roman
Kopylov in a featured middleweight bout. “Fluffy” gradually
overwhelmed his opponent with pace and pressure before forcing a
tapout with a rear-naked choke 3:23 into the second frame.
Former Road to UFC competitor Mingyang
Zhang captured the evening’s third $50,000 “Performance of the
Night” bonus for making short work of Brendson
Ribeiro in a preliminary light heavyweight clash. Zhang dropped
his Brazilian foe with a left hook and sealed his victory with
follow-up ground-and-pound for a stoppage at the 1:41 mark of Round
1.
Finally, Amanda
Lemos and Mackenzie
Dern earned “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for
their back-and-forth strawweight encounter. While Lemos hurt and
dropped Dern in the second stanza, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black
belt maintained her composure and used her grappling to keep the
fight competitive until the final horn. Ultimately, it was Lemos
who emerged with a hard-fought unanimous decision triumph.