UFC 298 on Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif., belonged to Ilia Topuria. But don’t get too distracted just yet as to quickly forget exactly what Alexander Volkanovski accomplished over the last four years.
Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif., belonged to Ilia Topuria.
Republic of Georgia, the homeland of his parents where he grew up as a boy, revels in one of their own reaching the top.
Spain, where Topuria arrived as a teen and became a man and then a champion, can rejoice as it arrived at the top of the MMA world stage.
Yes, UFC 298 was the coming out party of Topuria as he exploded a grenade of a right hook on the chin of Alexander Volkanovski. What was once the Aussie’s — the featherweight championship — now is the Georgian-Spaniard’s.
The UFC is an organization of shiny new objects, and nothing shines brighter right now than its 27-year-old new champ.
But don’t get too distracted just yet as to quickly forget exactly what Volkanovski accomplished over the last four years.
Sustained excellence is about as rare as it gets in mixed martial arts, and Volkanovski’s five successful, consecutive title defenses over 1,526 days at the top of the 145-pound heap already have placed him among the legends of the sport.
Yes, it matters that there will not be a sixth. Yes, it matters that Day 1,527 as the top featherweight fighter on the planet will not come for Volkanovski (26-4, 16 finishes).
And yes, it very much matters that Ilia Topuria (15-0, 13 finishes) is the definitive and unquestioned top 145-pounder on Earth as he starts Day 1 of his reign.
But just days ago, it was Volkanovski who attracted the majority of fan adulation at the UFC 298 Press Conference. The good-humored, 35-year-old Aussie reprised the role from his popular ad for Sportsbet in his homeland — a character lovingly dubbed by fans as Old Man Volk — threw in a fake nap and some senior-isms and stole the show.
In rasslin’ terms, Volkanovski was over with the masses. Even Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerburg loves him, to the point Zuck accompanied Volk on his walk to the cage; they’ve trained together, too.
