Ilia Topuria (15-0) knocked out Alexander Volkanovski (26-4) with a huge right hand to claim the UFC featherweight championship in the main event of UFC 298 in Anaheim.
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Volkanovski was measured to open the first round, going to his lead leg kicks to keep the challenger out of range. Topuria connected on consecutive calf kicks that seemed to throw the champ off his game. Topuria had Volkanovski flinching at each feint and looked for to connect on his overhand rights. Volkanovski was able to shift out of the leg kicks and gave the challenger a bit of his own calf kicks to mix things up in a fairly even first round.
The second saw Topuria move away his calf kicks to chip away with strikes upstairs. Topuria continued to work Volkanovski around the cage with a mix of leg kicks, heavy shots up top, and eventually found his opening with a massive right hand that put the champion out cold.
Topuria came into Saturday night’s main event 14-0 in his career and 6-0 since hitting the UFC in 2020. He earned the championship bout with a decision victory over Josh Emmett in June of last year.
Volkanovski dispatched Yair RodrÃguez with a knockout victory over Yair Rodriguez in July. Just three months later, he came back to avenge one of the rare losses in his career, but a first round head kick from Islam Makhachev sent him back to the featherweight division. Outside of two losses in the lightweight division, Volkanovski had never lost a featherweight bout heading into Saturday night’s tilt.
