Ilia Topuria knocks out Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298،
ANAHEIM, Calif. – The next generation of the UFC featherweight division is here, in the form of a multicultural, multilingual European fighter who has roots in Georgia, Spain and Germany.
Undefeated Ilia Topuria knocked out Alexander Volkanovski, arguably the best featherweight in MMA history, with a deadly second-round combination to become the UFC featherweight champion in the UFC main event 298 Saturday night at the Honda Center. The finishing time was 3 minutes and 32 seconds.
“Guess what? The only person who supports you in this life is yourself,” Topuria said in his post-fight interview. “Just trust yourself…and anything is possible. Look at me now. Look.”
All week, Topuria said he would knock out Volkanovski in the second round, something many thought unlikely given the incumbent champion's legacy.
Meanwhile, Volkanovski's fight was also against time. No male fighter weighing 145 pounds had ever won a UFC title fight past his 35th birthday. Volkanovski turned 35 in September. Male UFC fighters after their 35th birthday are now 0-15 in UFC title fights at lightweight and under, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
“It doesn’t matter where you come from, that’s where you’re going,” Topuria, 27, said. “What’s in front of you is more important than what’s behind you.”
All the judges saw Volkanovski winning the first round.
“I don’t need the judges,” Topuria said. “When I’m fighting, they can take their time to take a break and rest a little.”
Topuria was born in Germany to parents of Georgian origin. His family moved back to the Republic of Georgia when he was young, then to Alicante, Spain. Topuria lives and trains in Spain – his nickname is “El Matador” – but also represents Georgia. He is the first fighter representing Georgia to win a UFC championship and the first fighter living in Spain to do so.
UFC CEO Dana White noted that Topuria had opened a new market for the UFC in Spain and said the promotion would attempt to travel there for its first title defense.
“I want to go to Spain, too,” White said. “We are going to Spain. If there is a room available for us there, we will go there.”
Afterwards, Topuria called out Conor McGregor.
“Conor McGregor, if you still have any balls, I will wait for you in Spain,” he said.
Coming in, ESPN ranked Volkanovski third in the world on its pound-for-pound list. At featherweight, ESPN had Volkanovski #1 and Topuria #5.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg walked out of the fight with Volkanovski.
Topuria (15-0) won his first seven UFC fights, including five by finish. Topuria was coming off a unanimous decision victory over Josh Emmett in June. He changed his Instagram bio earlier this week, before the fight, calling himself a UFC champion and saying he was undefeated at 15-0. White said there were some things you could say about Topuria doing this, including that he manifested it.
“I've never been in a main event like this. I've never felt the heat, the pressure. It couldn't have been better,” White said of Topuria. “He looks like a guy who could be one of the greatest of all time.”
Volkanovski (26-4) has made five successful featherweight title defenses and six UFC featherweight title victories, the second most all time. The Australian-born fighter was coming off a loss to UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev by knockout at UFC 294 in October. Volkanovski also fell to Makhachev in a lightweight title fight in February 2023 by unanimous decision, before defending the featherweight belt against Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 in July. It was Volkanovski's first loss at featherweight in the UFC.
Volkanovski proposed an immediate rematch in Spain during his post-fight interview. He had been the featherweight champion since December 2019, the longest reigning titleholder in the UFC.
“Obviously I’ve been champion for a long time and I want this rematch,” Volkanovski said. “It’s something that has to happen.”
