Alexander Volkanovski faces Ilia Topuria in the principle occasion of UFC 298 reside on pay-per-view from Honda Heart in Anaheim, CA on Sunday, February 18 (AEDT). The Australian champion makes the sixth defence of his featherweight title in opposition to Germany-born unbeaten Spanish contender.
Volkanovski (26-3) can also be trying to return to successful methods and eyes to make it in a dominant model. The 35-year-old Sydney native received KO’d in his quick discover rematch in opposition to reigning light-weight champion Islam Makhachev final October in Abu Dhabi.
Stepping contained in the Octagon in Anaheim, Volkanovski meets No. 3-ranked featherweight contender Topuria (14-0). The 27-year-old is coming off the win by unanimous choice in opposition to Josh Emmett final June in Jacksonville, FL.
“I need him to be like ‘I’m nowhere close to this degree’, which goes to be very embarrassing after all of the speak he’s been doing,” Alexander Volkanovski mentioned within the ESPN’s “UFC Battle Camp” characteristic with Megan Anderson. “So, the well mannered approach of claiming it ‘I’m simply going to show him a lesson’, however he will probably be embarrassed.”
“He will probably be consuming his personal phrases. He’ll he’ll actually have to return to the drafting board and understand ‘all proper that’s an entire one other degree, how do I get there?’”
“So he’s going to thank me later when every thing’s mentioned and carried out he’s going to thank me for actually humbling him.”
“If he ever needs to be a fantastic champion or something like that, that clearly doesn’t begin anytime quickly, however possibly after I do what I plan on doing, possibly he learns a bit after which he’ll bounce again from that. After which he can thank me for it.”
Within the co-main occasion of UFC 298, New Zealand-Australian former middleweight champion and No. 3 Robert Whittaker (24-7) takes on former title challenger and No. 6 Paulo Costa (14-2) of Brazil.
