UFC 298 went down last Saturday night (Feb. 17, 2024) inside Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., leaving several fighters feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Mackenzie Dern, who suffered her second straight loss after being battered and bruised by Amanda Lemos (recap here).
And Henry Cejudo, who was sent into retirement unceremoniously by Merab Dvalishvili with a one-sided loss. But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
Alexander Volkanovski.
Coming into the event, Volkanovski was coming off a knockout loss at the hands of Lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, just four months earlier, his second loss to the 155-pound champion in the span of eight months. A win over Topuria would’ve been a nice reset for “The Great,” and a reminder to the sport that despite losing to a bigger fighter he was still the king at 145 pounds.
Unfortunately for the longtime champion, it didn’t exactly workout the way he would’ve hoped. After a fairly-even first round, things took a turn for the worse for Volkanovski. During a striking exchange, Topuria rocked “The Great,” sending him against the fence, which was the perfect setup for “El Matador” to uncork a vicious right hand that sent the Aussie crashing to the canvas. A few follow up shots later and we had a new Featherweight king.
The loss was Volkanovski’s first at 145 pounds, but he drops to 1-3 in his last four contests inside the Octagon. That’s a drastic downfall from a man who at one point had won 22 straight. After the loss, Volkanovski was gracious in defeat, giving Topuria his respect.
“We knew he would be fast,” Volkanovski said during the post-fight presser (via MMA Fighting). “We knew he would be powerful, obviously. We knew not to be on the cage there and let him catch us there, so again, he did a great job there, so there’s not much I can say other than congrats to him.
“Obviously, I’ve been a champ for a long time and I want that rematch, so that’s something that needs to happen. I’ve been reigning champ for how long? I’ve been a bit of a company man. Went back up on short notice, I fought Max [Holloway] three times, you name it, I’ve done it individually for a long time so I think I deserve that and I it’s going to be different next time.”
The loss doesn’t take anything away from the dominant reign Volkanovski had, which includes five title defenses to go along with 12 straight wins inside the Octagon. As far as Volkanovski’s pleas for an immediate chance to win his title back, he is very deserving based on his track record, but I am not sure it will happen against Topuria.
Volkanovski has competed four times in twelve months. He should take some time off to regroup and by the time he does return to action, Topuria will likely have already defended his title (or lost it), which is why its hard to predict who “The Great” will be facing next. Unless, of course, the promotion absolutely wants an immediate rematch for the former longtime champion.
For complete UFC 298 results, coverage and highlights, click HERE.