Just like that, one of MMA’s greatest title reigns ends and a new
era begins.
In the main event of
UFC 298 on Saturday in Anaheim, Calif., Ilia
Topuria (15-0, 7-0 UFC) navigated a round and half of
nail-biting tension against Alexander
Volkanovski (26-4) before shutting the lights out with a
crushing right hand. The matchup of the undefeated 27-year-old
phenom against one of the most dominant champions in the sport
delivered on expectations, as Topuria got out to a fast start,
stinging Volkanovski with heavy leg kicks and fast boxing
combinations. “The Great” remained calm, made adjustments and
seemed to have snatched back the momentum by the end of the
frame.
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The second round was just as close as the first, with Volkanovski
continuing to chip away at the Spaniard with crisp combinations and
good lateral movement. That is, until “El Matador” followed up a
pair of glancing hooks with a flush right hand that melted the
champ at the base of the fence. A couple of ground strikes
followed, but referee Jason Herzog was already moving in for the
finish at 3:32. With the sensational win, Topuria became the fifth
man to hold the undisputed featherweight title since its inception
just over a decade ago. Volkanovski, having suffered the first loss
at featherweight in his entire career, nonetheless now sits at 1-3
in his last four, and at age 35, will need to prove that his best
days are not already behind him.
Before that headliner, former champ Robert
Whittaker (25-7, 16-5 UFC) reaffirmed his place near the top of
the middleweight hierarchy by getting the best of a back-and-forth
war with Paulo Costa
(14-3, 7-3 UFC). “Borrachinha” likely stole the first round with a
spinning heel kick that staggered Whittaker badly in the last 15
seconds, but before then, it had been a firefight, with Whittaker’s
low kicks and jab doing good work against some lightning-fast high
kicks and lefts from Costa. While “Bobby Knuckles” may have been
saved by the bell in Round 1, he came out for the second frame no
worse for wear and appeared to pull ahead gradually as Costa’s
output slowed. With the fight in the balance, both men came out hot
in the final frame. Whittaker’s trademark dipping jab and one-two
found the mark over and over, while Costa elected to fight fire
with fire, answering Whittaker’s steady stream of low kicks with
some whipping kicks of his own. Neither man gave any quarter and
Costa’s attempt at another spin-kick killshot with 90 seconds left
missed by just a hair. The middleweight contenders continued
swinging right up until the final horn, whereupon both raised their
arms and walked off, to the cheers of a crowd mostly on its feet.
The judges scored the fight for the Whittaker by unanimous decision
(30-27, 29-28, 29-28), getting him back on track after his loss
last summer to now-champ Dricus Du
Plessis. Costa, who fought on Saturday for the first time since
his rousing win over Luke
Rockhold a year and a half ago, has now lost three of four, but
it must be said, looked very sharp in defeat.
In the feature fight of UFC 298, Ian Garry
(14-0, 7-0 UFC) survived and advanced, frustrating Geoff Neal
(15-6, 7-4 UFC) across three close rounds. In a fight contested
entirely on the feet, Garry’s distance management made the
difference, as he kept the Texan at bay with oblique kicks to the
lead leg, then met him with intercepting knees when he tried to
enter the pocket. The first two rounds were very even, with Neal’s
fast and accurate left hand finding its mark as often as not.
“Handz of Steel” struggled to capitalize on those moments, however,
as the two welterweights ended up clinching off of most of Neal’s
best connects. The third was more of a clear-cut Garry round, as he
stayed on his bike, denying Neal any chance to land a
fight-changing punch while still peppering him with enough shots to
win the frame. After 15 minutes, the cageside judges were split,
with two of them seeing the fight 30-27 for the Irishman against
one 29-28 scorecard for Neal. With the win, Garry’s seventh
straight since joining the promotion as a former
Cage Warriors welterweight champ, he may have crossed the line
from prospect to contender, and at 26, he is already drawing the
mixture of fan love and heel heat that can headline future cards.
Neal has now dropped two in a row and four of his last six, and
while he remains a tough test for anyone, he faces a hard road back
to contendership in a cutthroat division.
Merab
Dvalishvili (17-4, 10-2 UFC) continued his inexorable,
seemingly endless climb towards the summit of the bantamweight
mountain, taking a well-deserved win over former two-division champ
Henry
Cejudo (16-4). While Dvalishvili’s nine-fight win streak had
seen him overwhelm virtually all of his foes while barely breaking
a sweat, Saturday’s assignment proved to be a serious test.
Cejudo’s strengths were on full display in Round 1, as he stumbled
Dvalishvili with a hard short left hand, then took him down and
threatened to take dominant positions throughout the second half of
the round. On the feet as well as on the ground, it was more
adversity than Dvalishvili had faced in years, but he came back
strong in Round 2, taking down the 2008 Olympic gold medalist
wrestler multiple times, including a nice mat return. Cejudo never
stopped seeking takedowns of his own, but his efforts slowed to the
point that late in the round, “The Machine” sprawled and snared him
in a guillotine choke that looked tight. The horn sounded before
the attempt could work itself to a definitive conclusion, but the
former champ was visibly tired as he returned to his corner.
The final round turned into something closer to the typical
Dvalishvili fight, as his relentless pace began to wear on Cejudo,
leading to an extended sequence of Dvalishvili kneeing Cejudo from
behind as “The Messenger” held the fence to avoid being taken down.
Making things worse for Cejudo, his left forearm began to swell to
Popeye-like proportions, most likely from a blocked kick in Round
2. The takedown came a moment later, as Dvalishvili hoisted Cejudo
over his shoulder, carried him across the cage and tossed him to
the canvas before diving into his guard. Cejudo, despite fatigue,
frustration and a visibly swelling left arm, never stopped trying
to win the fight, swinging hard right up to the final horn. In the
end it was not enough, and Dvalishvili prevailed by unanimous 29-28
scorecards. For the Georgian by way of Long Island, it was his 10th
victory in a row, placing him easily in the lead for the longest
such streak in the UFC without a title shot. The 37-year-old
Cejudo, who is now 0-2 since returning from self-imposed exile last
year, vowed to retire in case of a loss, but remains capable of
holding his own against the best bantamweights in the UFC.
The main card opener saw Anthony
Hernandez (12-2, 6-2 UFC) throttle Roman
Kopylov (12-3, 4-3 UFC) in a fun middleweight clash of styles.
The opening round was a battle of will as much as skill, as Kopylov
worked to employ his fearsome arsenal of kicks while Hernandez
crowded him, forced clinch exchanges and tried to bring the fight
to the ground. The second round offered more of the same, but a
single miscue by Kopylov was all it took for “Fluffy” to take over
the fight. Hernandez took Kopylov to the ground, swiftly took his
back and applied a rear-naked choke. The Russian made things
interesting, fighting valiantly through a tense sequence on the
ground and briefly escaping the hold, but Hernandez immediately
attacked the neck again and this time there was no way out. Kopylov
tapped within seconds, prompting Jason Herzog to step in for the
submission finish at 3:23 of Round 2. With both men having brought
identical four-fight win streaks into the Octagon, Hernandez’s
momentum has never been greater, while Kopylov’s upward trajectory
will have to survive his first loss in almost two and a half
years.