Unbeaten Ilia Topuria has stopped Alexander Volkanovski within the second spherical to assert the featherweight title at UFC 298 in Los Angeles, ending the Australian champion’s four-year reign.
Topuria, a Georgian who lives and trains in Spain, managed the primary spherical of his first UFC title struggle with sharp putting earlier than he sensationally completed off Volkanovski with extra of the identical.
Topuria staggered 35-year-old Volkanovski to the cage with a left-right mixture and put him on the canvas with an ideal proper hand adopted by an enormous left.
He completed the surprised Volkanovski on the bottom with 1:28 left, bettering to a 7-0 win-loss report since becoming a member of the UFC in late 2020.
“I really feel so completely happy proper now,” Topuria mentioned.
“They informed me I could not do it. … Simply belief your self, and something is feasible. Simply have a look at me now.”
Volkanovski (26-4) had made 5 consecutive profitable title defences since profitable his belt in late 2019, however his reign ended along with his first featherweight loss in UFC competitors.
He additionally misplaced twice up to now yr to light-weight champion Islam Makhachev in a failed bid to turn out to be a two-division champion.
Humble in defeat, Volkanovski praised Topuria after the bout however mentioned he needed a rematch.
Topuria completely seized a second a number of years within the making. He had stormed to the highest of the listing contenders for Volkanovski’s belt with six consecutive UFC victories in lower than three years, capped by a blowout determination over Josh Emmett.
Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg walked out with Volkanovski and wore his cornermen’s gear in his front-row seat.
Australia’s former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker received a unanimous determination over Paulo Costa within the penultimate bout of the UFC’s first pay-per-view present in Southern California in additional than two years.
Whittaker (25-7) rebounded from a loss to future middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis final yr with a comeback victory over Costa (14-3).
AP
