The UFC returns to California with UFC 298. The card features a featherweight title headliner as current champion Alexander Volkanovski looks to defend his title once again when he faces the streaking Ilia Topuria.
The co-main event is a pivotal middleweight fight between former champion Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa.With plenty of other intriguing fights on what is a stacked card, let’stake a look at all of the action taking place this weekend.
UFC 298 Prelim Card
Women’s flyweight veterans kick off the action as Andrea Lee takes on Miranda Maverick. This should be competitive with Maverick ending up as the victor sending Lee to her 4th straight loss.
Welsh fighter Oban Elliot makes his first walk to the UFC Octagon versus Val Woodburn in a welterweight bout. Elliot is a solid favorite and should inflict Woodburn’s second career defeat, with his fist against one of the biggest prospects in Bo Nickal.
Josh Quinlan takes on Danny Barlow in a welterweight contest. It’s a close one, but Quinlan is favored to get the victory over undefeated Barlow.
Light heavyweights are also colliding as Zhang Mingyang battles Brendson Ribeiro. Mingyang is on a 9-fight winning streak and expected to triumph in this matchup.
Japan’s Rinya Nakamura faces Ecuador’s Carlos Vera in a bantamweight tilt. Undefeated Nakamura is the biggest favorite on the card and the money is on his record unblemished.
Marcos Rogerio de Lima faces Justin Tafa in a heavyweight bout. Anything can happen at heavyweight with New Zealand’s heavy hitter Tafa that hasn’t seen the second round in his last 4 fights. Lima is expected to get the victory, but the same was for his previous fight against Derrick Lewis that stopped him in just 33 seconds.
The featured prelim sees former women’s strawweight title challenger Amanda Lemostake on short-notice replacement Mackenzie Dern. Lemos -- who was originally supposed to fight Tatiana Suarez -- is coming off a lopsided defeat to Weili Zhang in their title fight in August.
Dern is also coming off a defeat after she was knocked out for the first time against former champion Jessica Andrade in November. This should be a close and competitive contest with Lemosultimately emerging victorious.
UFC 298 Main Card
Hernandez (11-2, 1NC) vs Kopylov (12-2)
A middleweight tilt kicks things off on the main card as Anthony Hernandez battles Roman Kopylov. The American had a rocky start to his UFC career, but is now on a four-fight winning streak. His most recent victory was a TKO win over EdmenShahbazyan in May last year.
The Russian is also on a four-fight winning streak with knockouts in each of those victories. His most recent triumph was a second-round knockout win over Josh Fremd in September. That said, Hernandez is the betting favorite in this matchup and should edge it in the end.
Dvalishvili (16-4) vs Cejudo (16-3)
Top contender Merab Dvalishvili battles former two-weight champion Henry Cejudo in a surpise matchup, especially after the Olympic gold medalist had retired. Dvalishvili may have gotten the next title shot if not for Sean O’Malley calling out and going on to face Chito Vera next.
The Georgian is on an impressive nine-fight winning streak which includes victories over the likes of Cody Stamann, Marlon Moraes, Jose Aldo and most recently, a unanimous decision win over former champion Petr Yan in March last year.
Cejudo is looking to return to the win column and get another title shot. The former two-weight champion returned to action for the first time since retiring in 2020 when he challenged then bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling in May. However, he would end up losing a split decision after a close-fought battle. Eager to get back to winning ways, the American is looking to get a quick title shot with a potential win over the contender most likely to get the next shot in Dvalishvili.
Whether he can do it is another question. While Dvalishvili is also a wrestling-based fighter, he is not only bigger than him, but also much more active and four years younger than Cejudo. Cejudo’s wrestling background should see him fare better than most against Dvalishvili, however, the odds still back Dvalishvili to eventually take him down and grind out the victory.
Neal (15-5) vs Garry (13-0)
An exciting welterweight showdown is also on the cards as 170-pound veteran Geoff Neal takes on undefeated rising star Ian Garry. Neal is coming off a submission defeat to ShavkatRakhmonov in March last year. It snapped a two-fight winning streak for the American who previously defeated Vicente Luque and Santiago Ponzinibbio.
Garry, on the other hand, is coming off a unanimous decision win over Neil Magny in August. Overall, the Irishman is 6-0 in the UFC with finishes in two of his last three fights. Garry will arguably face his toughest task yet against the American. However, he is still expected to come out on top and remain undefeated in the UFC with a decisive win likely to earn him a big fight against a top ranked opponent next.
Whittaker (25-7) vs Costa (14-2)
The co-headliner sees an intriguing middleweight encounter between Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa. Whittaker is coming off a shocking defeat to current middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis by stoppage. Prior to that, Whittaker rebounded from his title defeat to Israel Adesanya with a dominant unanimous decision victory over Marvin Vettori.
Costa, meanwhile, hasn’t been active since August 2022 where he snapped a two-fight losing streak with a decision victory over former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. Prior to that, Costa suffered setbacks against Vettori and Adesanya. With a number of canceled fights since his win over Rockhold, you always have to hold your breath before actually seeing the Brazilian step into the cage. But if he does, we should be in for an exciting striking battle.
Whittaker is a massive favorite, and the only play would be to roll the dice and bet on the power of Costa to KO the usually durable New Zealander.
Volkanovski (26-3) vsTopuria (14-0)
The headliner sees featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski look to get back to winning ways against the confident and undefeated Ilia Topuria. The Australian suffered his first pair of defeats in the UFC last year after losing a unanimous decision to Islam Makhachev in their lightweight title fight before most recently getting knocked out in the second round of their title rematch.
Sandwiched between those losses was a winas Volkanovski returned to featherweight and successfully defended his 145-pound strap with a TKO of Yair Rodriguez. As a result, “The Great”remains undefeated at featherweight.
Topuria, meanwhile, is undefeated throughout his career which includes a 6-0 record in the UFC where he holds impressive wins over the likes of Bryce Mitchell, Ryan Hall and Josh Emmett. He remains extremely confident that he’ll defeat Volkanovski and if any time was the best to face the long-reigning champion, it would be now.
That said, Volkanovski is regarded as the greatest featherweight of all time for a reason, and is a considerable step up from Emmett. Although the odds are close as it’s ever been for a featherweight title fight in recent memory,
Volkanovski is still a slight favorite and if his chin still remains intact, he should be able to get the edge over 5 rounds. The only question is if his chin can still hold up against a power puncher like Topuria.The other theme has been the age of Volkanovski that is now 35 years old. It’s rare for lighter fighters to find success at such age, but with all that said, I think the safe money is on the champ.
