UFC 298 Preview
By Cameron Orrock
Volcanovski’s defending the UFC Featherweight championship at UFC 290 (Image: Getty Images)
Will the statistics get the better of Volkanosvki again?
Alexander Volkanovski is preparing to take on Ilia Topuria, at UFC 298, for the UFC Featherweight championship. Volkanovski will want to retain his title and keep his title-defence run goinghowever , Topuria’s recent fight statistics look dangerous.
Topuria currently has a professional record of 14-0-0. His UFC career is 6-0-0, with two of these wins coming from unanimous decisions, one from a submission and three coming from knockout, all consecutively. This could cause problems for Volkanovski, who is coming off the back of a brutal Knockout loss against Islam Makhachev.
While following on from a devastating loss, Volkanovski still has the reach and experience over the younger Topuria. Volkanovski is looking to gain his 6th title defence to tie for 9th all time in title-defences in the UFC.
Volkanovski feels that his opponent is ‘cocky’ and that his recent loss has given him an inlfated sense of confidence. Topuria changed his Instagram bio to “UFC World Champion” the week before his fight with Volkanovski. An arrogant taunt, in his anticipation of a win.
Volkanovski blasted Topuria, claiming his arrogant attitude towards the fight was due to being surrounded by ‘yes men’ and claimed he hadn’t had to work for the success like he did.
He said: “It shows he’s happy having things given to him. I’ve earned everything, I’ve earned the championship in my bio, I’ve earned my title, earned my followers, you name it I’ve earned it all. I don’t see him doing the same.”
Tension between the two continues to rise, creating an exciting and interesting feel for the fans leading up to UFC 298.
UFC 298 also has more exciting fights on the night, with former middleweight champion, Robert Whitaker, saying: “I've done everything. I've ticked every box, I've crossed every 't,' I've dotted every 'i' in the last few months, so I'm going into this fight cocked and ready.”
But his opponent, Paulo Costa, who has been a feared force in the middleweight division for some years said: “I'm prepared to show I'm different from the guy that you saw against Marvin Vettori or Luke Rockhold. I have made a lot of improvements. I'm faster. I'm more dangerous than before.”
Ian Garry vs Goeff Neal is finally taking place after rescheduling. Garry looking to defeat Neal said: “What am I going to finish him with? I am going to make him quit,” in an Instagram post, and claimed that Neal was scared in the first place.
However Neal claimed it was the opposite, saying: “He didn’t want to fight me at first again, he pretty much said there was no point in rescheduling the fight. I fight for a living, me being scared is laughable. Nobody in the UFC is scared. If you are scared you aren’t going to last long. At the end of the day, we have a date, February 17, so we are going to see who’s scared when we step into the cage.”
Former UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion, Henry Cejudo is looking to defeat Merab Dvalishvilli after his loss against former bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling, saying: “This is all or nothing. I told the team, It's either gold or bust. I’ll either win it all, or I'm not going to have it all, and I'm out.”
While Dvalishvilli mocked Cejudo by hiring his former coach, saying: “Henry, goodbye, goodbye Henry. He is my coach now. I love my coach.” The tension continues to boil as we head into UFC 298.