ANAHEIM, Calif. — The new generation of the UFC featherweight division is here, in the form of a multicultural, multilingual European who has roots in Georgia, Spain and Germany.
The undefeated Ilia Topuria knocked out Alexander Volkanovski, arguably the best featherweight in MMA history, with a lethal combination in the second round to become the UFC featherweight champion in the main event of UFC 298 on Saturday night here at Honda Center. The time of the finish was 3 minutes, 32 seconds.
“Guess what? The only person that has your back in this life is yourself,” Topuria said in his postfight interview. “Just trust yourself … and everything is possible. Look at me now. Look.”
All week, Topuria was saying he would knock Volkanovski out in the second round, which many thought was unlikely given the incumbent champion’s legacy. Meanwhile, Volkanovski’s battle was also against time. No male fighter at 145 pounds had ever won a UFC title fight after his 35th birthday. Volkanovski turned 35 last September.
“It doesn’t matter where you come from, it’s where you’re going,” Topuria said. “It’s more important what’s in front of you than what’s behind you.”
Topuria was born in Germany to parents of Georgian descent. His family moved back to the Republic of Georgia when he was young, and then later to Alicante, Spain. Topuria lives and trains in Spain — his nickname is “El Matador” — but also represents Georgia.
Afterward, Topuria called out Conor McGregor.
“Conor McGregor, if you still have some balls, I will be waiting for you in Spain,” he said.
Coming in, ESPN had Volkanovski ranked No. 3 in the world on its pound-for-pound list. At featherweight, ESPN had Volkanovski No. 1 and Topuria at No. 5.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg walked out for the fight with Volkanovski.
Topuria (15-0) has won his first seven UFC fights, five of them by finish. Topuria, 27, was coming off a unanimous decision win over Josh Emmett last June.
Volkanovski (26-4) had five successful featherweight title defenses and six UFC featherweight title wins, the second most of all time. The Australian-born fighter was coming off a loss to UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev via knockout at UFC 294 in October. Volkanovski also lost to Makhachev in a lightweight title fight in February 2023 via unanimous decision, prior to defending the featherweight belt over Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 last July.
Volkanovski proposed an immediate rematch in Spain during his postfight interview.
“Credit to him,” Volkanovski said. “Obviously he’s a hard hitter. We knew that going in.”
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