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I was expecting someone to bail on UFC 298 before tomorrow night in Anaheim, but my money was on Paulo Costa slipping in the bathtub or something equally goofy. Instead, heavyweight hurter Justin Tafa has been felled by a mysterious injury and forced to withdraw from his late “Prelims” bout against Marcos Rogerio de Lima, according to an announcement the promotion made during the UFC 298 weigh ins stream.

See the reworked UFC 298 fight card and PPV lineup here.

No word yet on whether or not the promotion plans to rebook these titans for an upcoming fight card, or simply send the Brazilian on his separate way while the 30 year-old “Bad Man” heals up from whatever it is that sent him packing. If there’s any silver lining, it’s that neither fighter cuts weight, so there won’t be any concerns about turnaround times if matchmakers do, in fact, ship Tafa and De Lima to a nearby card (see what’s in store here).

UFC 298 will proceed with 12 fights, which includes “Prelims” on ESPN and ESPN+.

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.

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Alexander Volkanovski is back at featherweight and ready to defend his title again.

The reigning champion successfully hit the scale at Friday’s official weigh-ins for UFC 298, coming in at 144.5 pounds. Undefeated challenger Ilia Topuria also weighed in at 144.5 pounds, bringing them both one step closer to clashing inside the octagon.

All 10 main card participants made weight, including middleweight contenders Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa, rivals Geoff Neal and Ian Machado Garry, and No. 1 bantamweight contender candidates Merab Dvalishvili and Henry Cejudo.

If there was any drama, it came from the preliminary portion of the card, which saw a last-second switch-up in a heavyweight bout when Marcos Rogerio de Lima lost scheduled opponent Justin Tafa to injury. Fortunately for de Lima, Justin’s brother Junior was on hand to accept the bout and the two successfully weighed in near the end of the two-hour official weigh-in window.

The majority of Saturday’s competitors weighed in within the first 30 minutes, with the lone exception being Mackenzie Dern. The strawweight—who accepted a bout with Amanda Lemos on a little over a month’s notice as a replacement for Tatiana Suarez—did not arrive until there were less than 15 minutes remaining in the window, but she showed up bursting with energy and hit the mark at 116 pounds (including the one-pound allowance for a non-title fight).

See the official UFC 298 weigh-in results below.

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

Alexander Volkanovski (144.5) vs. Ilia Topuria (144.5)

Robert Whittaker (185.5) vs. Paulo Costa (185.5)

Ian Machado Garry (170.5) vs. Geoff Neal (170.5)

Henry Cejudo (135) vs. Merab Dvalishvili (135)

Anthony Hernandez (185.5) vs. Roman Kopylov (185)

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

Mackenzie Dern (116) vs. Amanda Lemos (115.5)

Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Justin Tafa — fight canceled

Marcos Rogerio de Lima (261.5) vs. Junior Tafa (249)

Rinya Nakamura (135.5) vs. Carlos Vera (135.5)

Zhang Mingyang (204.5) vs. Brendson Ribeiro (205.5)

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

Josh Quinlan (169) vs. Danny Barlow (171)

Oban Elliott (170.5) vs. Val Woodburn (169.5)

Andrea Lee (125.5) vs. Miranda Maverick (126)

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Ian Garry has been branded a “championship level” fighter ahead of his return at UFC 298 this weekend in Anaheim, according to veteran contender, Matt Brown – who claims the Dubliner can land spoils at welterweight, as long as he receives the right stylistic matchup.

Garry, the current number ten ranked contender, makes his return to the Octagon this weekend at UFC 298, taking on rival, Geoff Neal in a long-anticipated grudge pairing of the two kickboxing talents.

And taking his undefeated talents to Brazil for this training camp, Dublin striker, Garry trained alongside former undisputed lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira at the Sao Paulo finisher’s Chute Boxe base in South America.

Ian Garry heaped with praise ahead of UFC 298

Attempting to work through Neal this weekend en route to another bad-blooded affair with former interim champion, Colby Covington – whom he intends to “retire” later this year, Garry, 26, has what it takes to strike divisional gold, according to Brown.

“Ian Garry is championship f*cking level material,” Matt Brown told MMA Fighting. “I don’t give a f*ck about all the sideshow sh*t. That dude is championship level, at least with the right matchups with the striking guys.”

“I don’t know about his wrestling yet,” Brown explained. “I haven’t seen him (Ian Garry) on his back. I haven’t watched a lot of his fights to be honest, but the ones that I have watched, they were striking battles, the dude looks f*cking tremendous and he looks championship level.” 

Appearing front and center during last night’s pre-fight press conference, Garry was the subject of multiple boos and jeers from the Californian crowd, with former middleweight title challenger, Paulo Costa shoving him down the stairs off stage after the Portmarnock native threw up two middle finger gestures to fans. 

Who wins at UFC 298 this weekend: Geoff Neal or Ian Garry?

LowKickMMA.com

Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski puts his title on the line in the UFC 298 main event on Saturday against undefeated Ilia Topuria.  

The two were the first fighters to step on the scales at the UFC 298 official weigh-in and both men came in weighing 144.5.  

UFC 298 Main Event Weigh-In Video

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Merab Dvalishvili previews his UFC 298 fight against Henry Cejudo, discusses Cejudo’s comments about potentially retiring with a loss on Saturday, and more.

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Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists where we shine a light on fights from across the globe that may have been overlooked in these hectic times where it seems like there’s an MMA show every other day.

Fouls come in all shapes and sizes in combat sports and we’ve all become accustomed to rolling our eyes at the frequency with which they happen and the often ineffectual refereeing that follows (I’m sure fighters live in fear of the infamous “hard warning”). One maneuver that’s definitely against the rules but that we don’t see too often is the pulling of the hair, probably because it’s not something one can easily get away with and because it’s just a not-so-nice thing to do.

At a Zaruba Fight Night show in Dubai, someone’s long locks ended up being involved in the finish, though it’s hard to call this one a foul, strictly speaking.

(Big thanks as always to @Barrelelapierna for their weekly lists of the best KOs and submissions, and to @Grabaka_Hitman for uploading many of the clips you see here. Give them a follow and chip in on Patreon if you can.)

(And in case you missed out on last Friday’s Dogfight Wild Tournament 2nd Impact show that featured several bizarre match variations including a 5-on-1 “Last Survivor” fight and a Bloodsport-themed mini tournament, don’t worry. MMA Fighting has got you covered.)

Robbie Scott vs. Ahmed Mohamed Sobhy

Robbie Scott and Ahmed Mohamed Sobhy put their grappling skills to the test against one another and it’s Scott who seemed to get the better of the duel after snatching an armbar in the second round.

If only it were that simple.

Firstly, we have to talk about what happened with Sobhy’s hair. As he and Scott tangled on the mat, his hair literally became tangled between them and chunks of it began to be ripped from Sobhy’s head. I don’t know if this was his natural hair coming out, or some sort of synthetic extension, either way it was all over the place by the time Scott secured what appeared to be a fight-winning armbar.

As you can see from the clip above, Sobhy’s tap-out is nowhere to be seen, so we were left to wonder if maybe there was a verbal tap, or perhaps Sobhy cried out in pain, which is also grounds for a referee to stop a fight. Unfortunately for Scott, after a lengthy replay review, the stoppage was overturned and the bout was ruled a no-contest.

Nobody wants to see a fight end like that, even though it’s a good call for Sobhy, who was working his way out of the armbar. Let’s hope whoever does his hair can salvage that situation as well.

Zaruba Fight Night 6 is available for free replay on YouTube.

David Zawada vs. Hojat Khajevand

MMA veteran David Zawada didn’t have much luck with the UFC or the PFL and it looked like his recent appearance for Oktagon MMA was going to continue that trend. However, the German middleweight thrilled the crowd in Oberhausen, battling back from adversity to beat Hojat Khajevand with a heel hook out of nowhere.

Just that portion of the fight was a roller-coaster with both fighters wildly jockeying for position. Zawada looked like he was adapting on the fly and whatever he was doing paid off in the end as he scored just his second win since 2019. It’s worth noting that Oktagon utilizes open scoring, so if that helped to create a sense of urgency for Zawada, then a tip of the cap to that whole concept this time.

Nasir Davis vs. Michael Eastwood

From Fierce FC 30 (replay available via pay-per-view) in West Valley City, Utah:

That’s Nasir Davis with a zinging right hand that cracked the jaw of Michael Eastwood. Davis showed some truly impressive range management there, letting loose with a punch at a distance from which he knew Eastwood couldn’t threaten him.

Davis has won amateur flyweight titles in back-to-back fights, both via first-round knockout, so he’s certainly a dark horse prospect to watch going forward.

Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Allan St-Gelais

We head to the UFC Fight Pass realm now for a series of fantastic highlights, starting with Mansur Abdul-Malik’s hellacious knockout of Allan St-Gelais at LFA 176 in Phoenix. Last week, we featured a couple of insanely powerful ground-and-pound finishes, but Abdul-Malik has those beat.

Ugly stuff, but we definitely don’t have to worry about Abdul-Malik needing to develop a mean streak. The 26-year-old middleweight has finished all of his first four fights by first-round knockout. Afterwards, Abdul-Malik used his mic time to call for Mick Maynard to give him a shot in the UFC. Don’t expect him to have to wait too long.

Bilal Hasan vs. Jacob Romano

At Cage Fury Fighting Championship 129 in Philadelphia, 22-year-old flyweight Bilal Hasan absolutely smoked Jacob Romano with this spinning heel kick.

This was the opposite of Abdul-Malik’s ground-and-pound KO. This was a thing of beauty.

Hasan improved to 3-0 (1 NC) with the win and looks to be on the right track after making his pro debut just 14 months ago.

Rod Costa vs. Alan Philpott

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

An Australian champion goes up in weight in pursuit of a second title and loses twice, but finds success as he drops back down a division.

Of course, I’m talking about Eternal MMA’s Rod Costa, who defended his bantamweight belt in Perth after a couple of recent setbacks at featherweight.

Costa did it in style too, showing off some seriously slick jiu-jitsu to trap 36-fight veteran Alan Philpott in an arm triangle from bottom position.

But yeah, can’t think of any other Australian fighters in a similar position that are fighting anytime soon.

Khan Deatta put an exclamation point on his fight with Jong Hwan Lee, biding his time and waiting for an opening to throw a series of elbows that left Lee loopy.

Dude’s head was bouncing off the cage from those ‘bows.

In an amateur featherweight bout, Yohanes Lorot and Joel Hogan threw the kitchen sink at each other to the point that when I first watched this clip, I had no clue where the KO strike was going to come from.

As it turns out, it was a good, old-fashioned, jaw-jacking jumping knee that won Lorot the fight on this day.

Damion Nelson vs. Don Shainis

We mentioned big show veteran David Zawada rebounding from a tough stretch earlier, but the same can’t be said for Don Shainis. Including an 0-2 stint in the UFC, Shainis has lost four of his past five fights with this latest loss at a Combat FC show in Wilmington, Mass., being the most devastating.

Damien Nelson landed a glancing left hook that hit just the right spot, causing Shainis to face-plant and earning him our Humpty Dumpty Fall of the Week award. Congrats, I guess?

If you know of a recent fight or event that you think may have been overlooked, or a promotion that could use some attention, please let us know on Twitter — @AlexanderKLee — using the hashtag #MissedFists.

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