Newly-minted undisputed featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria may have drawn the lines to the wire in his pick ‘em fight with Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 over the course of the weekend, however, the new kingpin has opened as a clear betting favorite to beat the Australian in an immediate rematch.
Topuria, who improved to 15-0 as a professional over the weekend in Anaheim, became the first Spaniard to land Octagon gold in the main event of UFC 298 – stopping the lengthy title reign of Volkanovski with a devastating second round KO win.
Seeing his attempted sixth successful defense of the featherweight crown shattered as a result, Volkanovski’s defeat to Topuria followed a similarly brutal first round KO loss to Islam Makhachev just last October, in the pair’s short-notice lightweight title rematch.