Alexander Volkanovski to take on Ilia Topuria at UFC 298

UFC 298: Volkanovski vs. Topuria is a planned mixed martial arts event organised by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will be held on February 17, 2024, at the Honda Centre in Anaheim, California, USA. The event will be the promotion’s eighth return to Anaheim, and the first since UFC 270 in January 2022.

The event is supposed to be headlined by a fight between current UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria. This fight was supposed to headline UFC 297 one month ago, but it was put back after Volkanovski was removed to meet UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 294.

The main event is a featherweight title fight, with Alexander Volkanovski returning to the division attempting to defend his title for the sixth time. He will fight Ilia Topuria, who has been on an emotional high since debuting in the promotion in 2020. Since his professional debut, the 27-year-old has won all six of his fights and is undefeated (14-0).

A light heavyweight fight between Zhang Mingyang and Brendson Ribeiro was initially planned for UFC Fight Night: Song vs. Gutiérrez. However, the match was postponed owing to the event’s change of site and combatants’ visa concerns, and it is now planned to take place at this event.

The event is anticipated to feature a middleweight matchup between former UFC Middleweight Champion (and The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes welterweight winner) Robert Whittaker and former title contender Paulo Costa. The two was supposed to headline UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Gastelum in April 2021, but Costa pulled out due to sickness. They were also slated to battle at UFC 284 in February 2023, but Costa challenged the promotion’s official statement, claiming he had never signed a contract and the fight would not take place.

A welterweight fight between Ian Machado Garry and Geoff Neal is slated to take place during the event. They were originally scheduled to fight at UFC 292 in August 2023, but Neal withdrew for unspecified health reasons.They were originally planned for UFC 299, but were changed to this event for unclear reasons.

The event was planned to feature a welterweight contest between Yusaku Kinoshita and Danny Barlow. However, Kinoshita was withdrawn from the event for unclear reasons and replaced by Josh Quinlan.

This event was planned to feature a heavyweight contest between Tai Tuivasa and Marcin Tybura. However, the fight was rescheduled to headline UFC Fight Night: Tuivasa vs. Tybura on March 16.

The event was set to feature a women’s strawweight contest between former UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship contender Amanda Lemos and The Ultimate Fighter: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia strawweight winner Tatiana Suarez. However, owing to an injury, Suarez withdrew from the tournament, and Mackenzie Dern replaced him.

Rinya Nakamura, the winner of the Road to UFC Season 1 bantamweight competition, was supposed to meet Brady Hiestand in a bantamweight bout.However, Hiestand withdrew due to injury and was replaced by promotional newcomer Carlos Vera, who had previously participated on Season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter the previous year.

The event was set to feature a middleweight battle between former LFA Middleweight Champion Anthony Hernandez and Ikram Aliskerov. However, Aliskerov withdrew due to illness-related complications, and Roman Kopylov replaced him.The fight was supposed to take place at UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2 the year before, with Kopylov replacing Hernandez’s initial opponent Chris Curtis, but Hernandez backed out of the event, and the fight never happened.

Tresean Gore was set to fight A.J. Dobson in a middleweight match at the event. However, on February 7, Gore withdrew owing to a shoulder ailment. It is unknown whether Dobson will continue on the card.

Andrea Lee (13-8) entered the Octagon riding a four-fight winning run, which she extended to seven with three decision victory. “KGB” has struggled to regain its momentum, losing six of eight in the previous four years.

She has submitted five professional opponents and defeated three others.

Miranda Maverick (14-5) had her flawless (2-0) UFC start end with two straight defeats, the first a robbery against Maycee Barber and the second a decisive defeat to Erin Blanchfield. “Fear The” went on to win three of her next four fights, most notably crushing Priscilla Cachoeira at UFC 291.

UFC 298: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria

Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024 – Honda Center in Anaheim, California

Main card 
• Featherweight championship: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria
• Middleweight: Robert Whittaker  vs. Paulo Costa
• Welterweight: Geoff Neal  vs. Ian Garry
• Bantamweight: Merab Dvalishvili  vs. Henry Cejudo
• Middleweight: Anthony Hernandez  vs. Roman Kopylov

Prelims 
• Women’s strawweight: Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Lemos
• Heavyweight: Marcos Rogerio de Lima  vs. Justin Tafa
• Bantamweight: Rinya Nakamura vs. Carlos Vera
• Light heavyweight: Zhang Mingyang  vs. Brendson Ribeiro

Early prelims 
• Welterweight: Josh Quinlan  vs. Danny Barlow
• Middleweight: Oban Elliott  vs. Val Woodburn
• Women’s flyweight: Andrea Lee  vs. Miranda Maverick