Biggest Winners, Loser From UFC 298

UFC 298 went down last night (Sat., Feb. 17, 2024) inside Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., featuring a Featherweight title fight between division king, Alexander Volkanovski, and Ilia Topuria which saw “El Matador” knockout “The Great” in round two, winning his first-ever UFC title in the process (highlights). In the co-main event, Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa put on an absolute show, resulting a unanimous decision win for “The Reaper” after 15 minutes of back-and-forth action (recap here).

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Biggest Winner: Ilia Topuria

Topuria wasn’t afraid to call his shot ahead of the biggest fight of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career, and he delivered on his knockout prediction by ending Volkanovski’s run atop the Featherweight division with a brutal stoppage in round two. Topuria becomes the first man to defeat Volkanovski at 145 pounds, all while improving his mint record to 15-0, 7-0 UFC. Topuria said he was bound for superstardom, and last night was concrete evidence of that. It’s easy to say we can expect a long and dominate reign for the Spaniard, but he has looked unstoppable thus far and hasn’t shown any weaknesses in his arsenal. He may not be at Conor McGregor’s level just yet, but his stock got a huge bump last night.

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Runner Up: Merab Dvalishvili

Dvalishvili had long been lobbying for his shot at the UFC Bantamweight title, and after his dominant win over Henry Cejudo last night there is no denying “The Machine” what’s rightfully his. For 15 minutes, Dvalishvili and Cejudo threw everything they had at one another, with both men having shining moments. But it was Dvalishvili who got the better of “Triple C,” even winning the grappling exchanges en route to a unanimous decision win. In case the division forgot just what kind of problem “The Machine” is, they got a fresh reminder of what they can look forward to should they every get the call. For now, Dvalishili will be an interested observer when Sean O’Malley defends his belt against Marlon Vera at UFC 299 next month.

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Honorable Mention: Robert Whittaker

Don’t go counting “The Reaper” out just yet because the former UFC Middleweight champion reminded everyone last night that he is still very much a player in the game following his impressive performance against Paulo Costa. “Bobby Knuckles” looked great, light on his feet and very schematic with his strikes, which found their mark more often than not over the course of 15 minutes. He took some of Costa’s best shots and kept on ticking, looking as sharp as ever and bouncing back nicely following his stoppage loss to Dricus Du Plessis. The championship picture at 185 pounds just got a tad more interesting following Whittaker’s win.

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Biggest Loser: Alexander Volkanovski

It’s been a rough 12 months for Volkanovski, and last night in Anaheim it got worse after “The Great” suffered the first loss of his career as a Featherweight by getting his clock cleaned by Ilia Topuria, costing him his 145-pound strap. Volkanovski — who at one point was on a 22-fight win streak — has now last three of his last four, including his last two by devastating knockout. Now, the big question will be if “The Great” came back too quickly following his head-kick knockout loss at the hands of Islam Makhachev just four months ago. Regardless, the former 145-pound champion will likely now take an extended break after competing four times in a year. Whether or not he gets an immediate title shot when he comes back, remains to be seen.

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Runner Up: Mackenzie Dern

Ever since Dern stepped foot inside the Octagon back in 2018, the majority of the MMA community had big hopes for her. And while she did start off her UFC career at 6-1, she’s been rather cold every since, failing to take that next big step into championship contender status. She is 2-4 in her last six fights and has suffered back-to-back brutal defeats at the hands of Jessica Andrade and more recently losing to Amanda Lemos last night. While she showed toughness and grit, at the end of the day she needed a win, not a gutsy performance in defeat. Perhaps a change in division is in order.

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