A harsh view
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UFC 298 went down last Saturday night (Feb. 17, 2024) inside Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., leaving several fighters feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Mackenzie Dern, who suffered her second straight loss after being battered and bruised by Amanda Lemos (recap here).

And Henry Cejudo, who was sent into retirement unceremoniously by Merab Dvalishvili with a one-sided loss. But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?

Alexander Volkanovski.

Coming into the event, Volkanovski was coming off a knockout loss at the hands of Lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, just four months earlier, his second loss to the 155-pound champion in the span of eight months. A win over Topuria would’ve been a nice reset for “The Great,” and a reminder to the sport that despite losing to a bigger fighter he was still the king at 145 pounds.

Unfortunately for the longtime champion, it didn’t exactly workout the way he would’ve hoped. After a fairly-even first round, things took a turn for the worse for Volkanovski. During a striking exchange, Topuria rocked “The Great,” sending him against the fence, which was the perfect setup for “El Matador” to uncork a vicious right hand that sent the Aussie crashing to the canvas. A few follow up shots later and we had a new Featherweight king.

The loss was Volkanovski’s first at 145 pounds, but he drops to 1-3 in his last four contests inside the Octagon. That’s a drastic downfall from a man who at one point had won 22 straight. After the loss, Volkanovski was gracious in defeat, giving Topuria his respect.

“We knew he would be fast,” Volkanovski said during the post-fight presser (via MMA Fighting). “We knew he would be powerful, obviously. We knew not to be on the cage there and let him catch us there, so again, he did a great job there, so there’s not much I can say other than congrats to him.

“Obviously, I’ve been a champ for a long time and I want that rematch, so that’s something that needs to happen. I’ve been reigning champ for how long? I’ve been a bit of a company man. Went back up on short notice, I fought Max [Holloway] three times, you name it, I’ve done it individually for a long time so I think I deserve that and I it’s going to be different next time.”

The loss doesn’t take anything away from the dominant reign Volkanovski had, which includes five title defenses to go along with 12 straight wins inside the Octagon. As far as Volkanovski’s pleas for an immediate chance to win his title back, he is very deserving based on his track record, but I am not sure it will happen against Topuria.

Volkanovski has competed four times in twelve months. He should take some time off to regroup and by the time he does return to action, Topuria will likely have already defended his title (or lost it), which is why its hard to predict who “The Great” will be facing next. Unless, of course, the promotion absolutely wants an immediate rematch for the former longtime champion.

For complete UFC 298 results, coverage and highlights, click HERE.

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UFC 300 finally has its big, highly anticipated headliner bout.

It’s fairly poetic that the UFC’s most cursed division of the past four years — the once “golden” division of light heavyweight — has wound up as the cherry atop the historic UFC 300 sundae. The divisional title will close the show in the spotlight on April 13 in Las Vegas. The rapid rise of championship collector and current titleholder Alex Pereira will continue with his first defense against the champion before him in Jamahal Hill.

Pereira, 36, was rumored as the wild card of all wild-card options for UFC 300 in an absurd fantasy matchup with interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. Nothing ever appeared to be too serious when it came to the fight actually getting put together, but both men teased it on a few occasions. For several reasons, it’s probably for the best that it didn’t happen. As developments continued, the expected next 205-pound title fight of Pereira vs. Hill came out of the blue for as early of a date as UFC 300.

According to “Sweet Dreams,” things weren’t official until this past weekend.

“I found out ‘for sure for sure’ that it was locked in since I been in this, since I got to the [UFC 298] venue,” Hill told Aaron Bronsteter on Saturday. “We talked about it and I agreed to it yesterday.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge. The challenge of Alex has become huge, you know? He’s done incredible things, two-division champion in the UFC in seven fights, quickest to ever do it. I just wanna get in there and see how I match up with him.”

The light heavyweight title has been a hot potato since vacated by the all-time great champion Jon Jones in February 2020. Since then, the belt has changed hands five times, and only been defended once, which came in Jan Blachowicz’s champion vs. champion title defense against middleweight’s Israel Adesanya in March 2021.

Injuries and decisions have been the primary culprits of the juggling after Jiri Prochazka snatched the strap from Pereira’s mentor Glover Teixeira in June 2022. Hill went on to capture it in a vacant bid opposite Teixeira seven months later before he ruptured his achilles and dropped the crown with the need for a lengthy recovery.

As the first Dana White’s Contender Series alum to win UFC gold, Hill is honored to have accomplished what he has thus far along with being able to add UFC 300 to his list.

“It means a lot, even just being considered for it and them asking me to do it is huge,” Hill said of UFC 300. “It’s putting a lot of trust in my abilities and how I’m able to show up to put me at the helm of a card like that, and I appreciate that.

“Everybody wants to be on UFC 300, but realistically it didn’t really come on my radar and didn’t really happen until like yesterday. I’m not even gonna lie. Like, yesterday. When he called me, and he let me know the situation … well, basically the situation was they needed a main event. They had some things lined up but they preferred it be me and Alex.

“It was the first option, it’s what they really wanted,” he concluded. “The people definitely wanted it, that’s what they’ve been asking me for months now, all week. Yeah, it made sense.”

TOP STORIES

Fallout. UFC 298: 7 biggest takeaways from a historic night in Anaheim

BTS. Dana White explains UFC 300 main event, reveals Leon Edwards accepted 3 different opponents

Class. Alexander Volkanovski makes no excuses for UFC 298 knockout loss to Ilia Topuria: ‘That was a clean right hand’

Analysis. Sean O’Malley on Merab Dvalishvili vs. Henry Cejudo: ‘Decent little fight from a couple little dudes’

Next. Ian Machado Garry: Colby Covington doesn’t have choice to fight me

Wild. Ilia Topuria scores brutal knockout over Alexander Volkanovski to win featherweight title in UFC 298 main event

Response. ‘Volk came back wayyy too fast‘: Fighters react to Ilia Topuria’s UFC 298 knockout of Alexander Volkanovski

Reflection. WWE star CM Punk has no regrets on UFC run: ‘I would be kicking myself to this day if I said no’

Legend. Wanderlei Silva announced for 2024 UFC Hall of Fame

Moment. Merab Dvalishvili: Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg distracted him from choke at UFC 298: ‘I got too excited’

$ $ $ . UFC 298 post-fight bonuses: Amanda Lemos vs. Mackenzie Dern wins Fight of the Night

VIDEO STEW

UFC 298 Post Show.

On To the Next One.

UFC 298 Post-Fight Scrums.

Free fight.

UFC 100.

RIZIN Confessions 143.

PFL vs. Bellator: Fight Camp Confidential.

ONE Highlights from Friday.

Aldana throwback violence.

Personal update from Volk.

Bo’s UFC 300 fight camp.

The KO.

Arnold at work.

MORNING MUSIC

These guys go great with your toasty, energized morning breakfast.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Finishes.

Whoops.

Sure does.

Perfect.

Congrats!

Badass.

Gangsters.

Goal achieved.

Going for a ride.

Praise.

Oh.

Juicy.

Heal up, legend.

When in Thailand.

Saga.

Selfie time.

Time flies.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Stephanie Luciano (5-1-1) vs. Julia Polastri (12-3); UFC Vegas 89, March 23

Alex Pereira (9-2) vs. Jamahal Hill (12-1, 1 NC); UFC 300, April 13

FINAL THOUGHTS

If we’re to go off of how UFC 200 and UFC 300 turned out compared to the roads to each, everything all lined up as perfectly MMA as you’d have thought. If you know what I mean, you know what I mean.

Thanks for reading!

POLL POSITION

Last Week’s Results:

Friday: 41% of 341 total votes answered “1” when asked, “How many PFL fights will Francis Ngannou have?”

Thursday: 54% of 529 total votes answered “Robert Whittaker and Merab Dvalishvili” when asked, “Who wins this weekend?” Whittaker and Dvalishvili defeated Paulo Costa and Henry Cejudo via unanimous decisions.

Wednesday: 65% of 518 total votes answered “No” when asked, “Does Conor McGregor fight in 2024?”

Tuesday: 72% of 495 total votes answered “Sean Strickland” when asked, “Who would win in a boxing match?”

Monday: 78% of 337 total votes answered “Alexander Volkanovski” when asked, “Who wins this weekend?” Ilia Topuria defeated Volkanovski via second-round knockout (punch) at 3:32.

Today’s exit poll:

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @DrakeRiggs_ on Twitter and let him know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Tenth-ranked welterweight Ian Machado Garry looked to move up the rankings on Saturday when he faced eighth-ranked Geoff Neal in a UFC 298 main card bout.  

The undefeated Garry was coming off an impressive win over Neil Magny in his last outing.  He was scheduled to face Vicente Luque at UFC 296 in December but was forced out of the fight due to a bout of pneumonia.  “The Future” predicted that he’ll make a title run this year and it starts by defeating Neal.  

Neal had a two-fight winning streak snapped in his last fight losing to Shavkat Rakhmonov via submission last March.  The fight earned the UFC 285 Fight of the Night honors.  He looked to pick up a solid win and hand Garry his first career loss.  

The two touched gloves and Garry took the center of the octagon.  Neal circled on the outside and landed a leg kick.  Garry responded with a front kick to the body.  Neal delivered another leg kick and pressured Garry.  Garry went to the body with a right hand.  Neal continued to utilized leg kicks.  Garry jumped in with a knee followed by a left hand.  Neal drove forward with a combination into the clinch.  They worked for position along the cage with each turning the other.  

Garry separated but got hit with a right hand on the break.  Garry landed a right hand.  Neal responded with a right hand of his own.  Neal landed a right hand at the bell.  It was a close round.  MMAWeekly scored it 10-9 for Garry.  

Neal opened the second round with a leg kick.  Neal pressured Garry but Garry landed a combination.  Neal opted the clinch and keep Garry against the cage.  Not much happened in the clinch and Garry separated.  Garry connected with a kick to the body.  Neal landed a right hand and clinched with two minutes remaining in the round.  

Garry got off the fence and separated.  Neal stepped into the pocket with a left hand.  Garry delivered a kick to the body.  Neal connected with a combination.  Neal landed a right hand and Garry clinched.  The round ended with the two tied up along the fence.  MMAWeekly scored the second round 10-9 for Neal.  

Garry’s corner told him to be more active in the final round.  Neal pressured Garry to start the third frame.  He clinched and separated.  Garry delivered a kick to the body.  Neal responded with a combination to the body.  Neal connected with a leg kick and Garry answered with a combination.  

Garry went to the body with a kick and Neal exploded forward.  He landed a right hand and clinched with three minutes left in the round.  Garry broke free 30 seconds later.  Neal connected with a straight left hand.  At the two minute mark, Garry landed a knee to the chin of Neal.  Neal took it.  

Garry landed his jab and circled away.  Garry connected with an elbow.  Neal continued to press forward.  He missed with a combination and clinched.  Garry separated and connected with an elbow.  MMAWeekly scored the third round for Garry.  

The judges scored the fight for Garry via split decision.  The scorecards read 30-27, 28-29, and 30-27.

MMAWeekly.com | UFC and MMA News, Results, Rumors, and Videos

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

No Choice
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