Review: UFC 298 marks the end of the Volkanovski era

Spanish fighter starts strong

 UFC 298 has come and gone a nd the future of the UFC has been altered in a big way. 

In the second fight of the night, one of the greatest flyweights of all time Henry “Triple C” Cejudo took on Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili in a fight that most likely decided the future of the bantamweight division considering champion “Suga” Sean O’Malley defends his title next month at UFC 299. 

After a grueling fight that went the distance, Dvalishvili took down Cejudo in a fight that looked like it could’ve been the last for Cejudo and his successful career.

In the next fight, Geoff “Handz of Steel” Neal took on Ian “The Future” Garry in a fight that was supposed to take place at UFC 292 but was postponed due to Garry having undisclosed health issues and having to pull out of the fight. 

After another fight that went the distance, Garry showed why he truly could be the future of the welterweight division by taking down Neal by decision. 

In the co-main event, Robert “The Reaper” Whittaker took on Paulo “The Eraser” Costa. 

This fight was truly the comeback fight for Whittaker after losing to the now-middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis back in July at UFC 290. 

Many were saying if Whittaker didn’t win this fight that it could be the end of legendary career. 

After this highly entertaining and bloody fight between two contenders Whittaker battled Paulo Costas’s powerful flurries of offense and took the win by way of decision putting him back in the talk as a contender for the middleweight title. 

In the main event that was scheduled for five rounds, Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski defended his title in a highly anticipated fight against Ilia “El Matador” Topuria. 

All throughout fight week Topuria took a page out of “The Notorious” Conor McGregor’s playbook by stealing Volkanovski’s title at the fight week press conference. After fans waited all week to see Volkanovski and Topuria square off in the octagon the fight truly did not upset. 

After a close first round it only took Topuria 3 minutes and 32 seconds to find the button on Volkanovski’s head with a clean right hand knocking Volkanovski out immediately crowning Topuria as the new champion of the featherweight division. 

Topuria is already a huge fighter in his home land of Spain and becoming champ has only put him on the map even more, putting an end to the Volkanovski era truly is just the start of an era of Topuria’s own.