CombatSports.org

MMA Fighting has UFC 298 results for the Volkanovski vs. Topuria fight card, live blogs of the entire main card, and more from the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Saturday night.

In the main event, UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will put his title on the line against undefeated challenger Ilia Topuria.

Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will square off against Paulo Costa in the co-main event.

Check out UFC 298 results below.

Main Card (ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m. ET)

Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria

Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa

Ian Machado Garry vs. Geoff Neal

Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili

Anthony Hernandez vs. Roman Kopylov

Preliminary Card (ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET)

Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Lemos

Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Junior Tafa

Rinya Nakamura vs. Carlos Vera

Zhang Mingyang vs. Brendson Ribeiro

Early Prelims (ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET)

Josh Quinlan vs. Danny Barlow

Oban Elliott vs. Val Woodburn

Andrea Lee vs. Miranda Maverick

MMA Fighting – All Posts

UFC

submitted by /u/AbrahamRinkin [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alexander Volkanovski teased that a permanent move to lightweight could be in his future, and if he’s victorious against Ilia Topuria in the main event of UFC 298 to retain his featherweight title, UFC lead commentator Jon Anik can see it happening immediately.

“I think because he’s throwing those comments out into the universe even before the fight, it stands to reason that if he can beat Ilia Topuria, just given the way a lot of people talk about this title defense and how hard it’s going to be, I think this would be a nice capstone on his featherweight career,” Anik told MMA Fighting, “and a nice note upon which to go out if he decides to move up to 155 pounds and back to the prizefighting theme.

“Think about all of the big fights that there are for Alexander Volkanovski at 155 pounds. You could do worse than throwing him in a BMF setting, right? Certainly a fight against Justin Gaethje has some appeal. So I think the horizon is very monetarily sound for Volk no matter what division he decides to compete in, but yeah, you and me can pray that he’ll fight Movsar Evloev, but I’m not sure I see it happening.”

Anik is set to call UFC 298 this Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., where he’ll be joined in the booth by Joe Rogan and former middleweight champion Michael Bisping.

Volkanovski has yet to taste defeat in the UFC at 145 pounds, but enters 2024 following a losing year where he sandwiched a spectacular title defense over Yair Rodriguez in July between two setbacks at the hands of lightweight champ Islam Makhachev.

Topuria enters his first UFC title bout undefeated and coming off a one-sided decision win over Josh Emmett in his first promotional main event at UFC Jacksonville this past June.

While the majority of the MMA world’s eyes are set upon March’s loaded UFC 299 event — as well as April’s UFC 300 card, which has taken on a life of its own — Anik reminds fans not to sleep on UFC 298, especially when it comes to the main card and the main event.

“It’s one of the biggest fights of the year,” Anik said of Volkanovski vs. Topuria. “When I sat down with Ilia Topuria [in] December as part of that seasonal press conference, he was more than willing to lean into the fact that maybe this is a vulnerable time in which to be fighting Alexander Volkanovski, and not a lot of opponents would sort of lay that out there. Certainly, the fan base has been very suggestive in terms of this being a good time to maybe pluck off Alexander Volkanovski coming off of the knockout loss — decisive as that was, concussed in theory — against Islam Makhachev just a few short months ago, and that’s why this one didn’t happen in January and is happening in February.

“But Ilia Touria and Alexander Volkanovski lead the league in self-belief. I’m not sure we’ve had more self-belief in a singular UFC fight when you combine these two athletes, and it’s a very powerful thing. My former broadcast partner Brian Stann talks all the time about manifestation and self-belief, and I obviously still learn a lot from that individual, but Ilia Touria is absolutely fearless because he believes in the work that they’ve been doing while nobody’s really been paying attention.

“One of the things I asked him in December was, ‘When are your coaches going to get some shine?’ They’re very unheralded and [that shine is] absolutely coming if he can win a world championship on Feb. 17th. But I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think there’s ever a good time to face Alexander Volkanovski. Certainly, he’s going to be smarting after what happened last year in whatever condition he entered the fight in, so it’s a huge fight. Sixth title defense for Alexander Volkanovski, and with respect to Max Holloway and Jose Aldo, I think a lot of people out there are arguing that, on paper, this could be his toughest [fight and] title defense, and certainly those questions give way to answer soon.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

The fighters competing on Saturday’s UFC 298 fight card at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. participated in the event’s ceremonial weigh-in on Friday.  

The event takes place on Saturday at the Honda Center and is headlined by a featherweight title bout between champion Alexander Volkanovski and undefeated challenger Ilia Topuria.

UFC 298 Ceremonial Weigh-in  

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

Prediction
| BJPenn.com

UFC

It all goes down tomorrow night (Sat., Feb. 17, 2024) at UFC 298 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., as Alexander Volkanovski puts his UFC featherweight title on the line against undefeated contender Ilia Topuria.

This main event showdown between Volkanovski and Topuria is special in more than one way. Not only is Topuria undefeated and capable of shocking the champion on Saturday night, but Volkanovski is coming off a knockout loss to UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev his last time out. Sure that fight was on short notice, but it presents more questions to be answered this weekend in Anaheim as Volkanovski tries to continue his reign of dominance at 145 pounds.

On Friday, the two fighters stepped on stage for UFC 298’s ceremonial weigh ins and one final staredown. Check it out in the above video player.

In addition, UFC 298 will also feature a co-headliner pitting former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker against knockout artist Paulo Costa. There hasn’t been much said between the two fighters, but that doesn’t mean they won’t deliver fireworks on Saturday night. After all, a memorable performance from Costa could launch him into a UFC middleweight title shot by year’s end.

Check out Whittaker’s final staredown with Costa below:

UFC 298’s PPV main card will also showcase a gripping matchup between welterweight contenders Ian Machado Garry and Geoff Neal. Garry has looked unstoppable since making his UFC debut back in 2021 — racking up a 6-0 record since then — and feels ready to make a run at UFC gold. Neal, on the other hand, is coming off a submission loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov his last time out and needs a performance to regain momentum at 170 pounds. Shutting down a rising star like Garry is the perfect way for Neal to do just that.

You can check out the final faceoff between Garry and Neal below:

Finally, UFC 298 will play host to a bantamweight clash between former UFC double champion Henry Cejudo and streaking contender Merab Dvalishvili. This will be Cejudo’s second fight since returning from retirement in 2023 and he’s going to have his hands full. Dvalishvili has won nine in a row at 135 pounds and has one of the craziest gas tanks in all of combat sports. It will be an interesting matchup to say the least.

Check out their final staredown below:

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 298 fight card right RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6:30 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 298: “Volkanovski vs. Topuria” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 298 fight card and ESPN+ lineup click here.

MMAmania.com – All Posts

submitted by /u/event_threads
[link] [comments]
MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria have completed the talking phase of the build-up to UFC 298’s championship main event. Now there’s only one thing left to do.

Volkanovski puts his featherweight title on the line for sixth time when he faces the undefeated Topuria on Saturday in Anaheim, Calif. On Friday, both men hit the scale and faced off one final time at the UFC 298 ceremonial weigh-in.

The final staredown was intense, yet still respectful. Topuria was asked about his final thoughts before stepping into the octagon for a UFC world championship for the first time.

“I’m ready,” Topuria told Joe Rogan. “They’re going to witness, I’m going to make history tomorrow night. One more sleep.”

Volkanovski then had his chance to speak, and Rogan brought up Topuria’s confidence throughout the road to the high stakes contest, along with the challenger grabbing the belt at the press conference on Thursday.

For the champion, it’s not about the trash talk. It’s all about who backs it up when the referee says go.

“All of that’s all over now, now he’s got to step in the octagon with me,” Volkanovski said. “I’m going to show him. He crumbled at the presser, he’s going to crumble tomorrow as well. And still. Let’s go.”

UFC 298 takes place at the Honda Center. The card airs live on pay-per-view.

MMA Fighting – All Posts