Midnight Mania! Topuria: Volk ‘Will Be One Of Easier Fights Of Career’

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

UFC 298 can’t get here soon enough as each of the event’s headliners are ultra-confident in themselves ahead of their title collision. UFC’s second pay-per-view (PPV) of 2024 will see the promotion return to Anaheim, California inside the Honda Center on Feb. 17, 2023. In the main event, the Featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski, returns to his throne after another failed bid at capturing Lightweight gold against Islam Makhachev. Standing in his way will be the undefeated 14-0 Spaniard, Ilia Topuria.

“The Great” feels he has somewhat of a chip on his shoulder before this pairing with Topuria. Volkanovski’s first round head-kick knockout loss (watch highlights) was a sobering experience that he topped off with an emotional venting of sorts in his post-fight scrum, leaving many to question his current strength. Without the result of that champion vs. champion rematch against Makhachev, however, Topuria still found his studies providing him all the motivation needed to dethrone Australia’s finest.

“Every day I wake up and watch film,” Topuria told ESPN Deportes’ Carlos Contreras Legaspi. “Even videos of old trainings that are available. I watched everything and I don’t know what other people see. He doesn’t stand a chance, he has zero opportunity.

“I don’t see any holes, but I can tell how he attacks,” he continued. “The only attack I see is that he is going to kick my legs. That’s the only thing he can do. He has good cardio, but everyone has good cardio when they’re not under pressure. When you’re walking forward, you’ll have good cardio. When you’re in trouble, cardio tends to fade away and this will be the case. He will have someone in front of him that never goes back.”

Topuria’s perfection inside the Octagon has come in every form. Originally known for his grappling and submission ability before he joined UFC, “El Matador” has turned into a knockout artist, who’s delivered highlight-reel finishes in three of his six UFC appearances.

The last two wins were arguably Topuria’s most impressive as he finished a then-unbeaten Bryce Mitchell via second round arm triangle (watch highlights), and went on to dominate Josh Emmett over five rounds to a unanimous decision in June 2023. Stylistically, Topuria expects to continue his artistic ways of violence once he finally gets his hands on Volkanovski.

“I think it’s perfect, it’s going to be a masterpiece,” Topuria said of how he matches up with Volkanovski. “To hit and don’t get hit. That’s what you will see in this combat, you’ll see an authentic mixed martial artist.

“I’ll be there with a lot of patience, looking for any opening,” he continued. “I’ll be there to take advantage but the most important thing for me is to stay patient all the time. Stay ready, don’t make unnecessary efforts. The finish will come without pushing it too much. I don’t have any doubt that the finish will come, and it will be one of the easier fights of my career so far.”

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Insomnia

That’s a black eye if I’ve ever seen one. Time to start giving Dakota some real competition. Thank goodness for the Bellator merger.

Quite the setting you got there, Mike. Happy birthday!

I love Chael’s counter-trolling.

Those pesky supplements always getcha.

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Slips, Rips, and KO Clips

Nice one.

Good night.

Nothing like a good triangle.

Double the absolute filth

Delightful violence.

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Random Land

I still can’t believe that game happened, but I’m oh so happy that it did. Let football be football.

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Midnight Music: A little industrial metal, 2019

Sleep well, maniacs! Andrew will be back on Monday with more martial arts madness as always.