UFC 298 Results: Topuria Dethrones Featherweight King Volkanovski, Becomes First UFC Champion From Spain

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California, February 18: Ilia Topuria dethroned Featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski to become the first UFC champion from Spain during the main event of UFC 298: Volkanovski vs. Topuria event at the sold out Honda Center in Anaheim, California on Sunday (February 18).

The second numbered event of 2024 saw seven of the 12 fights go the distance and five end in stoppages - one submission finish and three by either technical knock outs of KO, including the main event title showdown.

The preliminary card's women's strawweight bout between Amanda Lemos and Mackenzie Dern bagged the fight of the night award, while three other fighters, including the main eventer, were given bonuses for their respective stoppage wins.

Topuria, Anthony Hernandez and Zhang Mingyang walked away from the pay-per-view with an extra USD50K as performance bonus for their stoppage wins on the card. Here is the recap from UFC 298:

UFC 298 Recap

In the main event fight billed as the youth of Topuria against the veteran know-how of the 35-year-old Volkanovski, the Spaniard's ground-shaking power proved the difference, landing a second-round stoppage.

In the opening round, Volkanovski ate a lot of low kicks to his left calf from Topuria, but the Aussie was able to leverage his vast experience to adjust and get through the first frame.

The second offered more of the same until Topuria clipped Volkanovski with a left hook followed by a thunderous right hook to drop him to canvas and earned the stoppage at 3:32 of the round.

"The only person you need to achieve anything in this life is yourself, just trust yourself, work tirelessly, have faith and everything is possible," Topuria said in an emotional post-fight interview before calling on the UFC to stage an event in Spain.

In the middleweight co-main event, the opening round was back and forth with Paulo Costa closing the round with a spinning heel kick that landed flush and wobbled Robert Whittaker.

The Australian former champion responded in the second and upped the output in the second half of the third and final round, connecting at a greater clip than Costa, earning the score on the judges scorecard for a decision win.

Also on the main card, welterweight prospect Ian Machado Garry edged veteran Geoff Neal for a split decision after former flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo gave it his all but lost a unanimous decision to Merab Dvalishvili.

In the main card opener, Anthony Hernandez put himself in middleweight title contention with a second round submission win over Roman Kopylov, who tapped out to the rear naked choke. Here is a look at the final results:

UFC 298 Results

• Featherweight Championship Bout: Ilia Topuria defeated Alexander Volkanovski via KO at 3:32 of the second round
• Middleweight Bout: Robert Whittaker defeated Paulo Costa via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Welterweight Bout: Ian Machado Garry defeated Geoff Neal via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
• Bantamweight Bout: Merab Dvalishvili defeated Henry Cejudo via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Middleweight Bout: Anthony Hernandez defeated Roman Kopylov via rear naked choke at 3:23 of Round 2
• Women's Strawweight Bout: Amanda Lemos defeated Mackenzie Dern via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Heavyweight Bout: Marcos Rogerio de Lima defeated Junior Tafa via TKO at 1:14 of Round 2
• Bantamweight Bout: Rinya Nakamura defeated Carlos Vera via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Light Heavyweight Bout: Zhang Mingyang defeated Brendson Ribeiro via KO at 1:41 of Round 1
• Welterweight Bout: Danny Barlow defeated Josh Quinlan via TKO at 1:18 of Round 3
• Middleweight Bout: Oban Elliott defeated Val Woodburn via unanimous decision via (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Women's Flyweight Bout: Miranda Maverick defeated Andrea Lee via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)