UFC crowns new champ as Volkanovski knocked out

By Christopher Reive

With one devastating right hook, Alexander Volkanovski’s reign as UFC featherweight champion was brought to an end.

After more than four years as the king of the 145lbs division, the Australian was dethroned by Spaniard Ilia Topuria who knocked Volkanovski out in the second round of their headline bout at UFC 298 in California.

It was a fight that piqued the interest of many fans; Volkanovski - the well-rounded, longtime gold standard of the division, and Topuria - the surging young, undefeated prospect with power in his hands and crisp boxing allowing him to utilise it.

It was an elite-level MMA fight and was tense from the outset.

Volkanovski had the edge over his challenger and won the first round on all three judges’ scorecards. Topuria was having some success with low kicks and his boxing, while Volkanovski mixed his targets well and landed well with both kicks and punches.

Topuria’s power was always the talking point coming into the bout, and the 27-year-old showed exactly why when he planted Volkanovski with a right hook from close range to see the title change hands for the first time since 2019.

Junior Tafa suffered a similar fate in his bout against Marcos Rogerio de Lima earlier on the card, falling to a second-round TKO due to leg kicks.

Stepping up to save a fight on the blockbuster card in California on a day’s notice after his brother, Justin, was forced to pull out due to a knee injury, Junior became the latest short-notice replacement in UFC history.

Justin was booked to fight the No. 15-ranked heavyweight de Lima on the card and, to step in with less than 24 hours’ notice for just his seventh professional MMA fight, it was an opportunity too good not to take in just his third UFC appearance – and one that earned him a big cheer from the fans as he entered the octagon.

But now both Tafa brothers will be limping onto the plane home, with de Lima earning a second-round stoppage with a leg kick-heavy attack.

The Brazilian came with a clear plan of attack, as he targeted Junior’s lead leg almost from the outset. Each kick was landing hard, and it wasn’t long before the damage began to show.

Junior’s left leg buckled after being kicked midway through the round, and while he was able to see out the round after de Lima, for some reason, decided to take it to the canvas, things weren’t looking good as Junior hobbled to his corner.

Asked by his team to switch his attack style to southpaw and lead with his right leg instead, it took another couple of kicks from de Lima before he did. But he only stayed there for a moment, missing with an attack of his own and leaving his left leg exposed after a short clinch.

De Lima attacked it again, and eventually, Junior’s leg gave out as he fell to the floor. At that point, the fight was over, but the referee appeared to wait to see how Junior would respond. That didn’t take long, as de Lima attempted a few punches to force the referee to call it.

It remains to be seen exactly how much damage Junior sustained in the bout, and his own fight on March 24 against Karl Roberson could be at risk if he suffered an injury.

He was able to exit the cage and head backstage without support, but was struggling to bear much weight on the affected leg.

While Junior wasn’t able to get the win, fellow Kiwi-born fighter Robert Whittaker returned to the win column with a unanimous decision victory over Paulo Costa.

Whittaker dictated the majority of the fight as he used his movement well to mix up his attacks and take the fight to Costa. Costa landed the more significant blows and had Whittaker badly hurt at the end of the first round with a beautiful spinning heel kick.

Whittaker’s blood-soaked face told a different story to that of the scorecards, but he was the rightful winner of the decision.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission