Ilia Topuria knocked out Alexander Volkanovski in the primary occasion of UFC 298 on the Honda Middle in California to turn out to be the brand new featherweight champion.
Topuria boldly declared himself a UFC world champion in his social media bio for months earlier than he truly turned the primary Georgian to win a title.
When Topuria lastly acquired the belt strapped round his waist at UFC 298 on Saturday evening, he cried on the feeling of goals coming true.
The Spaniard stopped Volkanovski within the second spherical to assert the featherweight title, ending the Australian champion’s four-year reign with a devastating collection of strikes.
Topuria (15-0) managed the primary spherical of his first UFC title battle with sharp punching earlier than he sensationally completed off Volkanovski with extra of the identical.
He staggered the 35-year-old Volkanovski to the cage with a left-right mixture earlier than placing him on the canvas with an ideal proper hand adopted by an enormous left. Topuria completed the champion on the bottom with slightly below 90 seconds left, enhancing to 7-0 since becoming a member of the UFC in late 2020.
“I really feel so joyful proper now,” Topuria mentioned afterwards with a mix flag of Georgia and Spain wrapped round his shoulders.
“They are going to let you know you may’t do it. They are going to knock you down and doubt you. However guess what? The one individual it is advisable have your again on this life is your self. Simply belief your self, work tirelessly, have religion and all the pieces is feasible. Take a look at me now.”
Topuria completely seized a second a number of years within the making. He had stormed to the highest of the record of contenders for Volkanovski’s belt with six consecutive UFC victories in lower than three years, capped by a blowout determination over Josh Emmett final summer time.
Volkanovski (26-4) had made 5 consecutive profitable title defences since successful his belt in late 2019, however his reign ended along with his first featherweight loss in UFC competitors.
The Australian additionally misplaced twice prior to now yr to light-weight champion Islam Makhachev in a failed bid to turn out to be a two-division champ, and he did not present his traditional relentless work charge in opposition to Topuria earlier than the battle abruptly ended.
Topuria did not lack confidence through the promotion of this battle. He repeatedly spoke of Volkanovski’s reign prior to now tense, and he even swiped the title belt off the desk in entrance of Volkanovski at their information convention on Thursday.
UFC president Dana White is hoping to make his promotion’s debut in Spain with Topuria’s subsequent battle. White was delighted by Topuria’s self-confidence in declaring himself a champion even earlier than he gained the belt.
“He undoubtedly believes in himself. That is undoubtedly placing your self on the market. You could possibly name that a number of issues. Manifesting. Cocky. He got here out and made it a actuality tonight,” mentioned White.
Volkanovski confirmed as much as their information convention dressed like an outdated man, lampooning the notion he was too outdated to compete with the 27-year-old Topuria. Volkanovski even had the assist of billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, who walked out with the champ and wore his cornermen’s gear in his front-row seat on the sold-out Honda Middle.
After they have been lastly within the cage, Topuria backed up each phrase and motion – to the delight of each of his house nations.
“Right now is a historic second for the nation of Georgia,” mentioned Georgian bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili, who beat Henry Cejudo earlier at UFC 298. “Everyone awakened early. Each restaurant was booked. They have been watching in stadiums. They’re celebrating now all evening.”
Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker gained a unanimous determination over Paulo Costa within the penultimate bout of the evening in Southern California.
Whittaker (25-7) rebounded from a loss to future middleweight champ Dricus De Plessis final summer time with a comeback victory over Costa (14-3), who staggered Whittaker with an excellent spinning head kick within the remaining seconds of the primary spherical.
Whittaker was left with a bloody face, however he largely managed the subsequent two rounds on his toes in opposition to a largely inert Costa, who apparently injured his leg.
Earlier, former two-division UFC champion Cejudo dropped to 0-2 in his comeback bid with a unanimous determination loss to Dvalishvili. Cejudo had beforehand mentioned he would retire once more if he misplaced the bout.
Cejudo, the previous US Olympic wrestling gold medallist and UFC champ at flyweight and bantamweight, curiously retired on the peak of his MMA reign in 2020. Now 37, he started his comeback final Might with a loss to Aljamain Sterling.
Cejudo acquired carried throughout the cage at one embarrassing level in opposition to Dvalishvili, who trains on Lengthy Island. Dvalishvili gained his tenth consecutive battle total and his ninth at bantamweight.
Chinese language mild heavyweight Zhang Mingyang had probably the most spectacular end on the undercard, knocking out Brendson Ribeiro with a dynamite mixture within the first spherical of his UFC debut.