Main Card Results | UFC 298: Volkanovski vs Topuria

The unrelenting Californian middleweight took the best Roman Kopylov had to offer and kept coming forward, ultimately dragging the streaking Russian to the canvas and sinking in the rear-naked choke. Hernandez turned the tides in the second round after getting hit with multiple clean, heavy shots, smiling at Kopylov and waving him on, and from there, it was all Hernandez.

After an uneven start to his UFC tenure, the skilled middleweight has now collected five straight wins, including three consecutive finishes. He’s on an outstanding run and should get another showcase opportunity next time out.

There were few moments of inactivity in this one, as if the 135-pound contenders weren’t trading strikes and looking for angles, they were clinched, grappling, and grinding. While Cejudo started well, the pace and pressure of Dvalishvili took over in the second round, taking the wind out of the former two-division champion’s sails.

When the scores were added up, “The Machine” emerged victorious, securing his 10th consecutive win and third straight triumph over a former bantamweight champ. The 33-year-old Georgian has to be considered the No. 1 contender at this point, and will surely be watching next month’s title clash very closely.

Contested exclusively on the feet, the ranked standouts traded throughout, Neal utilizing good punches, inside especially, with Machado Garry offering more volume and a greater variety of attacks. Neither man had any moments where they took decisive control of any frame — it was simply a competitive give-and-take as expected that highlighted how skilled each of these two are inside the Octagon.

The judges were tasked with determining the victor and when the nines and tens were added up, it was Machado Garry that emerged victorious. This was the 26-year-old’s toughest test to date and he passed without any real issue, moving to 7-0 in the UFC and 14-0 overall with the win.

The opening five minutes was a straight give-and-take for the majority of the round, with Costa punctuating things with a spinning heel kick that landed flush and wobbled Whittaker. The Australian former champion responded in the second, continuing to out-land Costa while mixing between the lead leg and the head. In the third, Whittaker upped the output in the second half and continued to connect at a greater clip than Costa, right through to the final horn.

This was a tremendous competitive and entertaining battle that affirmed each man’s standing as serious threats in the 185-pound ranks. When the scores were read aloud, it was Whittaker that came out ahead, earning a clean sweep of the cards to get himself back in the win column to start the year.

A right hand found the chin and put Alexander Volkanovski out cold, ushering a new era in the UFC featherweight division.

Just an absolutely tremendous performance from the confident, unbeaten Spaniard, who becomes the sixth undisputed champion to sit on the throne in the 145-pound weight class.