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UFC 298 has come and gone and we have a new featherweight kingpin. Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria were having a hell of a chess match through the first round and a half. Volkanovski managed to chew up Topuria’s legs while Topuria managed to find Volkanovski’s head with his fists on several occasions. As the latter stages of the round began, Topuria managed to find a clean right hand to the jaw of Volkanovski, putting the champion out cold, Topuria claiming the crown for himself.
Volkanovski had been the longest current reigning champion, his reign being the only one that stretched back into the previous decade. However, he was also 35, making him the oldest person to have held onto the featherweight title. Volkanovski didn’t look old during the fight, but part of aging is a loss of durability. Granted, as hard as Topuria landed, it may not have mattered if Volkanovski was in his prime. Then again, we’ll never know.
The rest of the UFC 298 card largely proved successful in terms of entertainment value. Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa managed to deliver a fun back-and-forth in the co-main event. Merab Dvalishvili made a statement in his disposal of former UFC champion Henry Cejudo. Anthony Hernandez managed to open the main card in style and Amanda Lemos and Mackenzie Dern closed the prelims out with a barnburner. It’s hard to put forth an argument the fans didn’t walk away as winners.
But who were the real winners and losers of the event? Sure, 12 UFC fighters officially had their hand raised in victory, but that doesn’t always mean they are the true winners of the night. Same with those who didn’t get their hand raised. Just like not all wins are created equal, not all losses are either. I’ll give you the lowdown on who the biggest winners and losers of the event were. I’ll limit it to three in each category, doing my best to avoid having the same combatants of a contest in both categories. Let’s dig in!
UFC 298 Winners
Ilia Topuria
Like I wouldn’t have the guy who snatched a big gold belt on this list. Topuria managed to present problems for Volkanovski that no one else had managed to. Holloway never managed to get on track in his typical manner in large part because Volkanovski didn’t respect his power. The Korean Zombie was past his prime. Yair Rodriguez couldn’t stop Volkanovski’s takedowns. Brian Ortega came close with a submission, but when that didn’t take, he didn’t have the striking prowess to keep pace. Topuria didn’t have any of those glaring weaknesses.
Given time is on Topuria’s side, it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t open as a favorite if the expected rematch takes place. At 27, it’s easy to believe Topuria will still be improving while it’s hard to see Volkanovski managing to look any better than he did here at UFC 298. Perhaps Volkanovski would have emerged victorious had they managed to go the distance, but that wasn’t the case at UFC 298 and would appear less likely to happen in a rematch. There’s enough fresh blood in the division that’s it’s unwise to predict a long reign for Topuria right off the bat, but it doesn’t feel improbable for Topuria to rewrite the UFC’s featherweight history books.
Merab Dvalishvili
I really don’t understand what Dana White has against Merab Dvalishvili. Marlon Vera wasn’t going to move any more PPV buys than Dvalishvili just because he beat Sean O’Malley in 2020. In fact, I’d say Dvalishvili’s unique personality would have been a bigger draw than Vera. After all, Dvalishvili was having a conversation with social media mogul Mark Zuckerberg in the middle of his UFC 298 fight with former two-division champion Henry Cejudo. The UFC can’t do anything with someone like that? I have major doubts about that.
Regardless of who deserved the right to challenge O’Malley for the UFC bantamweight title, Dvalishvili undoubtedly punched his ticket to have next. Cejudo looked good in the first round before Dvalishvili’s unrelenting pressure began to get the better of Cejudo. Cejudo faded down the stretch and Dvalishvili picked up his 10th consecutive victory. In a division that’s a shark tank like bantamweight, that’s no small feat. Only a 140-pound catchweight in the COVID era is preventing him from sole ownership of the most consecutive victories in the division. He’ll be in sole ownership of that if – when? — he wins the title.
Danny Barlow
There were a plethora of unknown quantities early in the UFC 298 card. I’m not going to deny the fact that some were who offered more promise than others, but the idea was to see who would make the best impression and the UFC might consider them worthy of putting a spotlight on. Barlow looks like he might have done enough for the UFC to declare that he’s something special. He landed a variety of strikes on Josh Quinlan over the first two rounds – including some flying knees – before putting away the durable Hawaiian early in the third round with a barrage of strikes.
I’m not going to say it was a flawless performance for Barlow, but it can’t be denied that he has the athleticism and power to be a real difference maker. Plus, his uniquely long frame will be all the more problematic as he gains more experience in how to use it to his advantage. As raw as Barlow is, he can only get better. I’d like to see Barlow develop a strategy beyond throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks, but it worked this time. Thus, while it’s a fair criticism, it’s also an indication of Barlow’s talents. I get the feeling the UFC will be giving him a push.
UFC 298 Losers
Paulo Costa
This has less to do with Costa’s UFC 298 performance against Robert Whittaker. Costa came the closest to ending the fight with his kick to the head of Whittaker, the former champion likely being saved by the bell. Costa also managed to keep things close enough in the other two rounds that a similar moment in either of those rounds would likely have led to his being the one getting his hand raised. What hurts for Costa is he has been given prime positioning time and again despite his being a major headache. Some of that isn’t his fault – such as his surgery knocking him out of the Khamzat Chimaev fight – but he’s been a pain on the whole.
Despite that, Costa has continually been set up in prime positions, Jon Anik calling the fight with Whittaker a title eliminator of sorts. For someone who has one win since 2019 – that win coming over a washed and rusty Luke Rockhold – he couldn’t be getting better positioning. Costa has said he doesn’t want to revisit a fight with Chimaev, but that might be the only way for him to stay relevant without him reeling off a decent win streak. Given how often Costa fights at this stage of his career, that could take several years, in which time he’d be aged out of his prime. Costa didn’t look bad, but he really needed this win at UFC 298.
Mackenzie Dern
This isn’t a rip on the mettle of Dern. Her UFC 298 fight with Amanda Lemos should have been stopped in the second round, only for Mike Beltran to allow the fight to continue and Dern to make a comeback of sorts from that point. It was beyond gutsy on her part. But being gutsy isn’t enough to get her beyond the point she has risen to. It’s not like we haven’t known Dern needs to put in work on her wrestling and striking either. We’ve known that since she debuted in the UFC six years ago. There doesn’t appear to be any progress in those areas since that time.
Even as Dern may be the most dangerous submission specialist within the division, she’s hitting a hard ceiling. Her opponents know of her prowess on the mat and are prepared for it as the blueprint has been established. Avoid a brawl and Dern’s reckless takedown attempts and it isn’t too difficult to outwork Dern. Even if the fight hits the mat, Dern’s opponents have focused on protecting their limbs and done so to great success as Dern’s last submission victory came three years ago. Even more troubling, she’s gone 2-4 since that time. Dern needs to shake things up. Otherwise, she’s capped out.
Andrea Lee
It looks like we’ve reached the end of the line for Lee at UFC 298. I say that with hesitancy as Lee hasn’t been completely blown out in any of her seven UFC losses. In fact, there’s several of those fights that it could be argued she should have been the rightful winner. However, she has also been less competitive in these losses, even as she has received gradual steps down in competition. Granted, even as the competition has grown lesser, there’s no shame in losing to the likes of Miranda Maverick. But seven losses in her last nine fights? That’s indicative of someone not living up to expectations.
While the expectation is that Lee will end up on the chopping block, it also isn’t a guarantee. After all, how long did the UFC keep Sam Alvey around? Of course, that will likely depend on how much of a favorite Lee is with the brass and/or how many fights she has left on her contract. Regardless, there was a lot of hype around Lee when she first came into the UFC. Even if a good chunk of the MMA community believed the hype was overblown in the first place, owning a losing UFC record with her best win arguably being Montana de la Rosa is still coming up short for those who tempered their forecasts.
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