UFC 298: The Volk vibes are off

UFC 298 is just a couple days away and with it comes a very stiff test for our featherweight champion. Alexander Volkanovski is coming off another loss to Islam Makhachev, a rushed bout where Volk let the UFC pressure him into replacing an injured Charles Oliveira on short notice. Now, Ilia Topuria looms ahead of him, a stout fireplug of a man with excellent striking, real knockout power and a very diverse grappling game.

Is it finally going to be the day that the featherweight throne finds a new man seated upon it? Has Volkanovski’s long athletic career (remember, he played rugby before he started the punchy-face thing) finally begun to catch up with him, or will “The Great” prove us all wrong once again? What’s that, you want to know why I said “again”? Let’s harken back to when he won his belt. The vast majority of the community labored under the assumption that Max Holloway would keep his belt. Hence, “again.”

The rest of the main card is a well-stocked affair with five excellent fights and two of them are middleweight bouts! I know, I know, that’s almost unheard of these days but every once in a while, Sean Shelby pulls a rabbit out of the proverbial hat. He’s certainly done it here with Kopylov-Hernandez and Whittaker-Costa. A feast for all those lamenting a division that once upon a time was solid, dare I say robust, even.

Henry Cejudo is finally re-entering the octagon after a disappointing loss to then-champion Aljamain Sterling last May. The clout-chasing former champ-champ had to do some damage control after botching a spot on the Countdown show where he fired his longtime coach Eric Albarracin. After a ton of social media backlash, the Olympian claimed it was only for the cameras, but sources say there have been changes made to who will be cornering him this weekend, leading many to wonder if Albarracin really is gone for good.

Will all the extraneous factors matter once he steps into the cage with Merab Dvalishvili? Has he spent enough serious time training and working on his cardio? He just urned 37 and has a single fight in nearly four years, and that was a losing effort. Merab, by comparison, fought six times in that time frame—all of them wins. As a matter of fact, he hasn’t had a loss in nearly six years. Let’s take a look at the entirety of the main card:

UFC 298 Main Card

• Alexander Volkanovski  vs.  Ilia Topuria
• Robert Whittaker  vs.  Paulo Costa
• Geoff Neal  vs.  Ian Machado Garry
• Merab Dvalishvili  vs.  Henry Cejudo
• Anthony Hernandez  vs.  Roman Kopylov

Don’t forget to check out the bonus section for a great review of the UFC Vegas 86 main card. Make sure to tune in immediately after this weekend’s fights for breakdowns and analysis on our 6th Round Post-Fight Show.

Listen to the FULL episode on our podcast Substack

What comes after UFC 298: Volkanovski vs. Topuria?

The next event after UFC 298: Volkanovski vs. Topuria will be UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Royval 2 on February 24th. That card is taking place at the Arena CDMX Mexico City, Mexico and the main event will enjoya rematch between top-5 flyweights Brandon Moreno and Brandon Royval. The co-main event has an even better rematch than that when elite featherweights Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega run it back.

Bloody Elbow merch available

Bloody Elbow is pleased to announce our partnership with Revgear. They have been a pioneer in the MMA gear industry and have grown into a formidable brand and true leader in the market. Revgear now have Bloody Elbow t-shirts, hoodies and hats so you can show your support for independent MMA journalism.

Join the new Bloody Elbow

Bloody Elbow is an independent, reader supported publication. Please subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with our best work and learn how you can support the site. Please subscribe to our podcast Substack, as well. We’re constantly refining to try and provide our readers and listeners with the best, most current combat sports news and opinions.

You know you can count on us for quick, consistent quality UFC and MMA coverage. Our Substack is where we feature the work of writers like Zach Arnold, John Nash, Karim Zidan and Connor Ruebusch. We’re fighting for the sport, the fighters and the fans. Please help us by subscribing today.

Stephie Haynes

Stephie Haynes has been covering MMA since 2005. She has also worked for MMA promotion Proelite and apparel brand TapouT. She hosted TapouT’s official radio show for four years before joining Bloody Elbow in 2012. She has interviewed everyone there is to interview in the fight game from from Dana White to Conor McGregor to Kimbo Slice, as well as mainstream TV, film and music stars including Norman Reedus, RZA and Anthony Bourdain. She has been producing the BE podcast network since 2017 and hosts four of its current shows.

More from the author