Best UFC bets and expert advice for UFC 298 Volkanovski v Topuria
Alexander Volkanovski makes his sixth defence of the featherweight title at UFC 298 in the early hours of Sunday morning as he faces undefeated Ilia Topuria.
The champion goes into this fight with a few doubts surrounding him following his short notice knockout defeat by lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 in October.
Back in his natural weight class and looking motivated again, the Australian faces a fierce challenge from Topuria, who is brimming with confidence.
A stacked card in Anaheim, California also has an intriguing co-main event as Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa face off in the wide-open middleweight division.
Former two-weight world champion Henry Cejudo takes on Merab Dvalishvili in a possible title eliminator at bantamweight, while highly rated Irishman Ian Garry looks to push towards the top five at welterweight as he faces Geoff Neal.
- Alex Volkanovski to win by decision @ 11/4
- Paulo Costa to win by decision @ 6/1
- Ian Garry to win by KO, TKO or DQ @ 3/1
Alexander to be great again
2023 saw featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski fight three times but defend his title only once as he moved up to lightweight for a duo of fights with Islam Makhachev.
He came up short on both occasions when moving up in weight, but the first bout was close and he had just 11 days' notice for the second.
The 35-year-old now returns to his natural weight class where he remains unbeaten after displays of skill, supreme conditioning and heart.
Volkanovski has disposed of plenty of notable names including Max Holloway, Brian Ortega, Jose Aldo and Yair Rodridguez.
Ilia Topuria looks every inch a future champion. The 27-year-old has power in his hands coupled with a superb ground game and has a 14-0 pro MMA record with six UFC wins.
Topuria earned his title shot with a dominating five-round victory over Josh Emmett, who was ranked number five when the pair fought.
Such is Volkanovski’s dominance in taking out the rest of the contenders at 145lbs that Topuria has perhaps slightly jumped the queue and ideally would have had one more fight against a top-three opponent. With that in mind, taking Volkanovski to win by decision appeals.
Costa brewing up a storm
Robert Whittaker is one of the greatest ever middleweights and the 35-year-old can count himself unlucky not to have been a champion for longer.
Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, Kelvin Gastelum and Marvin Vettori were all contenders who tried and failed to take his number one spot.
However, The Reaper was dismantled by Dricus Du Plessis in the second round at UFC 290 in July and now faces another high-volume striker in Paulo Costa.
Costa hasn’t been seen in the Octagon since defeating Luke Rockhold at UFC 278 in August 2022.
The 33-year-old looked good on that occasion but weight and activity has been an issue previously and he has had six bouts cancelled since he fought Israel Adesanya for the title in 2020.
Costa looks in great shape ahead of this fight, though, and Whittaker will have to use his intelligence to keep the Brazilian at bay.
Expect a ferocious pace from Costa, who will look to build an early lead and it could be enough for him to win by decision.
Garry can harry Neal
This bout was originally scheduled for UFC 292 in August but that fight fell apart due to medical reasons for Neal, while Garry went on to completely dominate Neil Magny over 15 minutes to earn himself a top-10 ranking.
A boxing-heavy fighter, Neal has beaten Vincente Luque, Santiago Ponzinibbio, Mike Perry and Belal Muhammad during his UFC tenure, recording five KO/TKOs in his seven wins.
Neal was last seen losing inside the distance to another highly touted up-and-comer in Shavkat Rakhmonov last March.
With Rakhmonov hurtling towards a title shot, Garry can start making his own push towards the top five with a similarly impressive performance.
He has the range and speed to neutralise Neal’s boxing and will have hopefully learned enough from the Magny fight to be able to force a finish.
*odds correct at the time of writing and subject to change
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