UFC 298 Countdown previews 145-pound king Alexander Volkanovski, who defends his belt against Ilia Topuria, and former 185-pound champion Robert Whittaker, who battles Paulo Costa.
The event takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. and is headlined by the Volkanovski and Topuria title fight. The fight card also features former two-division champion Henry Cejudo taking on Merab Dvalishvili.
Volkanovski (26-3) went up to the lightweight division on short notice to take on champion Islam Makhachev in his last fight. He was knocked out in the first round. Back in his weight class, “The Great” has held the featherweight title since 2019.
Topuria (14-0) is undefeated and ranked third in the 145-pound weight class. He’s only gone the distance twice in his nine-year mixed martial arts career and predicts that he’ll take out the champion in the first round.
Sean O’Malley’s longtime head coach Tim Welch agrees with the UFC bantamweight champion that a superfight against Ilia Topuria should be the next matchup if both fighters win their respective title bouts against Marlon Vera and Alexander Volkanovski.
“Who wouldn’t want to see that fight?” Welch said on The MMA Hour. “That would be a sweet fight. Ilia’s one of our favorite fighters to watch. He’s one of the most technical, sound guys out there, just watching his boxing. But I have seen them in the same room, I’ve seen them — Ilia’s not way bigger [than O’Malley]. And Ilia’s an orthodox guy, he’s got a really wide stance, he’s got a super linear stance — and we’ve been fighting orthodox boxers [O’Malley’s] whole career. Orthodox boxers like that who are good, they really want to get their jab started. It’s just a good fight for Sean. He’s good at knocking them out.
“And I think you can kind of hear it in Ilia’s voice when you even bring up Sean. It doesn’t seem like he’s that interested in that. It’s like, why wouldn’t you be that interested in that? That’s a huge fight, especially for Ilia. But Ilia brings up Conor McGregor. It’s like, OK, so you’re going fight Conor McGregor at 185 pounds? That just doesn’t even seem realistic at all. But [Topuria vs. O’Malley is] definitely a fight that is interesting. And people who say, ‘Oh my God, [O’Malley is] so stupid, Ilia would kill him,’ it’s like, yeah, that’s what everyone said about Petr Yan, that’s what everyone said about [Aljamain Sterling].”
O’Malley, 29, makes the first defense of his UFC bantamweight title in a rematch against the only man to defeat him in MMA, “Chito” Vera, on March 9 at UFC 299.
Topuria, 27, challenges Volkanovski for the UFC featherweight strap this Saturday in the main event of UFC 298. The undefeated Spaniard is a perfect 5-0 in his UFC career with a quartet of stoppage wins over Bryce Mitchell, Ryan Hall, Damon Jackson, and Jai Herbert. Topuria handily defeated Josh Emmett in his most recent bout and has exuded confidence ahead of his title challenge against Volkanovski, however Welch isn’t as sold.
“I wish I could see the type of people that Ilia is sparring,” Welch said, “because you saw how good Volkanovski is kicking the legs against Max Holloway. He’s just whacking his legs the whole time, and Ilia’s stance is so sideways, it’s such a long boxing stance. Ilia’s such a strong counter-puncher though, he’s got the opportunity to clip Volk.
“But I think if I had to pick, I think Volk might beat him up.”
O’Malley has campaigned heavily for a shot at the 145-pound strap if Topuria manages to end the five-year reign of Volkanovski this weekend in Anaheim, Calif.
Those calls to already move up in weight and challenge for champ-champ status have rubbed several bantamweight contenders the wrong way, especially with Cory Sandhagen and, in particular, Merab Dvalishvili existing as worthy challengers for O’Malley’s belt. Dvalishvili faces former two-division champion Henry Cejudo in a marquee bout at UFC 299 and will tie the record for consecutive UFC bantamweight wins with nine if successful.
According to Welch, O’Malley’s aspirations of two-division gold won’t preclude the champ from handling whatever business needs to be handled at 135 pounds.
“For sure, it’s bound to happen — the Cory Sandhagen fight is bound to happen, 100 percent. Merab, it’s bound to happen,” Welch said. “If Merab whoops Henry’s ass, then that fight’s bound to happen. If Henry whoops Merab’s ass, that’s bound to happen too. I don’t really deal with that too much, but I know Sean wants the biggest fights, which, you can’t blame him. And whatever is going to be the biggest fight is what he’s going to want to do.”
Joe Pyfer | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Joe Pyfer hasn’t lost any confidence after suffering his first UFC setback.
The main event of UFC Vegas 86 on Saturday saw the fast-rising middleweight have his momentum halted by the battle-tested Jack Hermansson. After getting out to a fast start, Pyfer couldn’t keep up with Hermansson in the final three rounds and he went on to lose to “The Joker” by unanimous decision.
Afterward, Pyfer posted a video on his Instagram Stories in which he gave his take on the fight and sent a strong message to his doubters.
“I just want to say I’m OK despite how my face looks,” Pyfer said. “I wasn’t rocked. I got punched in the eyeball, couldn’t see. He did a good job on the calf. I feel like the eye, when I lost vision, I fell that round, I lost that round and I just couldn’t get it back, and he did a good job on the calf.
“For all my haters: Suck a fat d***. I wasn’t supposed to be here anyway. I give it 100 percent every time and we’ll make adjustments and we’ll come back. Thank you to all my sponsors, thank you to everybody that supports me. Good job, Jack.”
Pyfer entered his first UFC main event with plenty of hype behind him after scoring finishes in his past five fights, including a 3-0 mark inside the octagon. However, against the most experienced opponent of his career, Pyfer couldn’t manage enough offense to get past Hermansson.
At 27, the middleweight prospect looks to have plenty of time to rebound from this disappointment.
Any time a hyped prospect or heavy favorite comes up short in a high-profile spot, “FRAUD CHECK” is the immediate cry on social media from every fan whose betting slip came up empty. The defeated fighter was not bested by a better opponent with a great gameplan.
No, they were just never any good in the first place — they’re FRAUDS!
Such will be the narrative for many after Joe Pyfer’s unanimous decision loss to Jack Hermansson last night (Sat. Feb. 10, 2024) in the main event of UFC Vegas 86. Pyfer started strong, showing off his ferocious power and putting Hermansson on the defensive. As that power waned a bit by the third, however, Pyfer didn’t have any real answer for the jab and calf kick of the veteran.
The problem is that we really shouldn’t have expected him to have all the answers this early in his MMA and UFC career. For every Chris Weidman who wins the undisputed belt at 10-0, there are dozens of Joe Pyfers still learning essential lessons in their 15th professional fight.
Early on, Pyfer demonstrated why he’s a special talent, a prospect of high regard. I have no way of confirming that Pyfer actually hits as hard as Francis Ngannou, but I can confirm that his opponents react similarly. Remember how Ngannou punched Junior dos Santos so hard that the Brazilian turned his back and tried to run away? Pyfer’s punches draw similarly odd reactions from his opponents, like when a very conscious Gerald Meerschaert covered up and accepted defeat after taking one big combination (watch it here).
Meerschaert is a tough, tough man with very few knockout losses on his record, but he tasted unusual power and didn’t know how to handle it. Pyfer has that gift, plus he throws smarter combinations than the average Middleweight.
The 27-year-old does not suck.
The problem is that he wasn’t ready for Hermansson — veteran of 32 professional fights — 17 UFC bouts, and five UFC main events. Hermansson knew exactly how to weather the early storm of Pyfer’s power, and he understood well that Pyfer would slow down after throwing so much heat. He also knew how to take advantage of Pyfer’s defensive weaknesses, which were on display in his previous Octagon bout against Abdul Razak Alhassan.
The simple truth here is that Alhassan is not a particularly good Middleweight (he’s 2-3 since moving up to 185-pounds), yet he gave Pyfer a lot of trouble. “Bodybagz” never rocked him with punches, and Alhassan’s calf kick was doing a lot of damage. Pyfer was able to bail himself out by running through an athletic double into an instant submission, but that option wasn’t always going to be there, especially since striking is his preferred approach to combat.
Sometimes, young fighters show a flaw then immediately correct it. Referring back to Weidman, he got his leg kicked to pieces in the first fight with Anderson Silva but less than six months later was able to break Silva’s shin with a checked kick. The issue is that these fighters are wildly rare and should not be looked at as the norm.
Pyfer — well-coached and talented prospect that he is — did indeed show some improved calf kick defense … for about a round. Then, his feet slowed a little, some jabs blinded him, and old habits emerged — perfectly typical for a young fighter.
The silver lining here is that UFC main event status doesn’t mean what it once did. Nobody was in attendance to watch Jack Hermansson “fraud check” Joe Pyfer. UFC CEO, Dana White, attracted more fans and celebrities to the weekend’s Power Slap CTE Festival than the actual fights, so at least a hype train crashed and burned with relatively few spectators.
Most likely, Pyfer will be back in the same empty warehouse within the next six months, rebounding and building experience against unranked opposition as is needed. His ceiling is still quite high, but that potential assumes he’s given a reasonable path to develop his talents.
For complete UFC Vegas 86: “Hermansson vs. Pyfer” results and play-by-play, click HERE.
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