ANAHEIM, Calif. – Alexander Volkanovski showed off his age this week by pretending to fall asleep during his pregame press conference, wearing grandfatherly clothes and glasses.
Volkanovski hasn't actually aged. He's only 35 years old. But technically, he's too old for a UFC featherweight champion. In fact, no male fighter below the lightweight division has ever won a title fight after he was over 35 years old.
That was the biggest storyline leading up to Volkanovski's title defense against Ilya Topria in the main event of UFC 298 on Saturday night at the Honda Center here. Topria is only 27 years old and is one of the most exciting young fighters in MMA. Can Volkanovski make history and prove he's the exception to the 35-year rule? Or will he pass the 145-pound torch to the well-balanced Topuria?
ESPN ranks Volkanovski third in the world on its pound-for-pound list. Volkanovski is ranked No. 1 in ESPN's featherweight division, while Topuria is ranked No. 5.
Volkanovski (26-3) has successfully defended his featherweight title five times and ranks second all-time with six UFC featherweight titles. The Australian-born fighter is coming off a knockout loss to UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 in October. Volkanovski also lost a unanimous decision to Makhachev in February 2023, but defended his featherweight belt against Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 last July.
Topuria (14-0) won four of his first six fights in the UFC by finish. The German-born martial artist of Georgian descent lives and trains in Spain. Topria earned a unanimous decision victory over Josh Emmett last June.
UFC 298 fight card
ESPN+PPV, 10pm Eastern Time
Men's Featherweight Championship: Alexander Volkanovski (c) vs. Ilya Topria
Middleweight: Robert Whitaker vs. Paulo Costa
Welterweight: Jeff Neal vs. Ian Machado Garry
Men's Bantamweight: Merab Dvalishvili vs. Henry Cejudo
Middleweight: Anthony Hernandez vs. Roman Kopylov
ESPN/ESPN+, 8pm
Strawweight: Amanda Lemos vs. Mackenzie Dern
Heavyweight: Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Justin Tafa
Bantamweight: Tomoya Nakamura vs. Carlos Vera
Light Heavyweight: Zhang Minyan vs. Blendson Ribeiro
ESPN+, 6:30pm
Welterweight: Danny Barlow vs. Josh Quinlan
Welterweight: Orban Elliott vs. Val Woodburn
Women's Flyweight: Andrea Lee vs. Miranda Maverick
(c) = defending champion
