The Spanish conquest primarily began on Saturday in Southern California.
In the main event of UFC 298 at Honda Center, undefeated challenger Ilia Topuria, who had been incredibly confident before taking on one of the most formidable bantamweight champions in UFC history, backed up his swagger with a second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski.
With the champion leaning against the cage, Topuria tagged Volkanovski with a right to the body and a left to the head. He then delivered a picture-perfect right to the jaw, which caused Volkanovski to collapse. The bout was stopped at 3:32 of the second round by referee Jason Herzog.
Topuria, who relocated to Spain at the age of 15, was born in Germany, raised in the Republic of Georgia, and now stands at 15-0 after 13 finishes (eight submissions and five knockouts).
Each fighter measured their leg kicks and jabs during a methodical opening round. Volkanovski (26-4) scored more points with punches (20-15), and in the last minute, he executed a perfect left that also appeared to cause a little cut on Topuria's hairline to the left.
A tiny cut on Topuria's nasal bridge seemed to have been opened by Volkanovski in the second round prior to the startling conclusion.
The Australian champion was defending his sixth title after defeating Max Holloway at UFC 245 almost four years prior.
Volkanovski was actually 16-0 since October 2014 and 11-0 since making his UFC debut on June 11, 2017, meaning he had never lost at 145 pounds.
Cejudo Loses against Dvalishvili
Henry Cejudo's career was on the line Saturday night at Honda Center for what seemed like an eternity.
The former Olympic gold medallist and UFC double champion, who threatened to retire if he couldn't defeat bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298 at Honda Center, spent a few moments in the air. in the true sense.
The 37-year-old Cejudo's career seemed to be over when Dvalishvili picked him up in the third round, carried him across the Octagon, and dumped him. Cejudo's victory was decided by unanimous decision.
In his postfight interview in the ring, Dvalishvili celebrated his unanimous score of 29–28 wins over Cejudo, while Cejudo took off his gloves, a sign that he was about to hang them up, and paced. The only issue was that Cejudo wasn't given a chance to address the audience or discuss his potential retirement; instead, everyone was left waiting while the music continued after Dvalishvili's interview.
The previous three opponents Dvalishvili has defeated have been Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, and Cejudo, three past champions. Since April 2018, he has already won ten straight fights, nine of them by decision. He also called out the 135-pound champion Sean O'Malley, who was there and faces Marlon Vera for the title next month.
Cejudo was more successful in the beginning of the fight, frequently simulating a shot before popping Dvalishvili. In the subsequent round, Dvalishvili succeeded in locating a place to rest his hands. Cejudo swung furiously at one point, and Dvalishvili dove under it to take the opponent down with just one leg. As the round came to a close, Dvalishvili was giving Cejudo a hard time and showing off for the spectators, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg who was seated cageside.
In round three, Dvalishvili seemed like the more experienced fighter, landing right-hand blows and picking up the tempo with the fans obviously behind him. Their responses were instructive when the horn to stop the bout sounded: Dvalishvili sprinted to his corner and climbed the cage, while Cejudo walked over to his and sunk toward the fence.
Whittaker gets back up
Robert Whittaker, the former middleweight champion, made a strong statement when he declared his intention to defend the title.
The Australian emerged victorious by unanimous decision in the co-main event, just avoiding a head kick from Paulo Costa at the end of the opening round.
Whittaker outlanded Costa 93–59 and controlled the majority of the play, attacking Costa's lead leg from the outset and regularly finding a place to put his left hand.
Whittaker, however, was knocked down in the last seconds of the first round by a spinning heel kick, which he later described as "a flesh wound." Whittaker was shown how close the fight was to ending by Costa (14–3), who attempted to put him away but ran out of time.
Neal loses to Garry
The judges were divided on the choice, but the fans weren't. Ian Machado, an Irish welterweight who is unbeaten Garry moved around a lot during the fight to try to stay out of Geoff Neal's way, and he did enough to win the split decision.
For the majority of the battle, Garry danced around the outside as Neal (15–6) lumbered after him. Every now and then, Garry would lock into a 1-2 combination, a knee, or a kick, and then he would get back on his bike. The audience was expressing their disapproval at the minute the fight had left.
Following that, Garry confronted Colby Covington, stating that he was interested in retiring the former interim 170-pound champion, who had lost his last three fights for the welterweight title.
Right from the start, Dvalishvili kept Cejudo on the edge of his seat with two spinning kicks. Cejudo studied the range, remaining composed. Before long, Cejudo gave Dvalishvili a big left hand blow that sent him reeling backward. However, Cejudo soon got back up after Dvalishvili grabbed one leg and kicked out the plant foot for a good takedown a few moments later.
Dvalishivili connected with a good blow and lunged for the takedown, but Cejudo flipped to regain the lead. Dvalishvili scrambled to a standing clinch on the fence after banked some top control time. Before the horn, a couple near strikes were exchanged before dispersing.
Early in Round 2, Cejudo's wrestling prowess was evident, smoothly shifting the tempo of the match. But Dvalishvili responded effectively to stop the takedown from being completed. A fight broke out again in the middle of the cage. Dvalishvili gave Cejudo a strong punch that split the audience. After surviving the onslaught, Cejudo resumed fighting threats, but he started to look tired.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, was seated cageside when Dvalishvili showboated by locking in a guillotine choke in the last seconds of the round.
In the initial part of the round, Dvalishvili kept looking for the takedown, but Cejudo was able to hold his ground. With just over two minutes remaining, Cejudo was hoisted and dragged across the cage by Dvalishvili, who then slammed him to the ground. In the last seconds, Dvalishvili gained some control time and thwarted Cejudo's last-ditch attempt to hit a home run.
During his post-fight interview, Dvalishvili argued for a rematch with the judges after they had decided in his favor.
I'm prepared. Joe Rogan was assured by Dvalishvili, "I'm ready for ten rounds." I'm going to square off against the winner. Since 2018, I've been phoning Sean O'Malley. Right now, I just want the title.
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