More than anything, UFC 298 will likely go down in history as a changing of the guard in the featherweight division.
Ilia Topuria ended the lengthy championship reign of Alexander Volkanovski in emphatic fashion, knocking out the Aussie standout with a clean right hook at the 3:32 mark of Round 2 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on Saturday night. Prior to the finish, the fight was quite competitive, with Volkanovski taking the opening stanza on all three judges’ scorecards.
Ultimately, it was a matter of Topuria figuring out his opponent’s timing and finding the right opening.