In the Clinch: Topuria Supremely Confident Ahead of Title Fight vs. Volkanovski, UFC 298 – Some might say that featherweight challenger Ilia Topuria’s confidence is bordering on arrogance. And many others say he crossed that line a long time ago.
At any rate, Topuria (14-0-0), 27, has a chance to become the new featherweight champion when he faces Alexander Volkanovski (26-3-0), 35, at UFC 298 Saturday. Undefeated in fourteen fights, he has a 100% finish rate. That is one thing to be supremely confident about.
Another thing in Topuria’s favor is he is facing a vulnerable Volkanovski. He was beat down in his last fight and defeated convincingly in two straight to lightweight champion Alexander Makhachev.
A lot of eyes are on ‘El Matador,’ from UFC CEO Dana White to other fighters like Sean Strickland and Yair Rodriguez.
Volkanovski may be down, but he is not out.
At 35 years old, ‘Alexander the Great’ continues to remain undefeated in 12 featherweight fights in the octagon. Though Makhachev, one of the top fighters in the company bested him, the motivation to reinforce his dominance at 145 will be overwhelming. His combination of grappling, striking, and cardio remain as formidable as ever. He just might be coming
back a bit too quickly.
Add in the drama factor and we have a compelling main event.
This is an important fight for Alex in particular. His friend, former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, was taken apart by Sean Strickland. There is a bit of a dark cloud hovering around him and his camp. A big win Saturday could help extinguish it.
Either way, this fight keeps the division moving after some prior stagnation when Alex was up at 155. I am expecting an exciting fight between two individuals who have a lot to prove.
This fight was supposed to happen at UFC 297 in January, but Alex took the Makhachev rematch on short notice at UFC 294.
Let’s go, gentlemen.
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Ilia Topuria
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