UFC 298 unfolds in Anaheim on Saturday night, with Alexander Volkanovski looking to defend his featherweight title against the undefeated Ilia Topuria.
Much has been made of the storylines surrounding this match-up: the youth versus experience angle, Volkanovski’s age, Topuria’s unblemished record. The fact that he holds Georgian heritage along with fellow main-card standout Merab Dvalishvili.
None of that truly matters however. Volkanovski, at 35, isn’t the old man pundits and Topuria himself have made him out to be. At 27, Topuria is younger, but the pair are less than a decade apart. The unbeaten record “El Matador” sports? Fantastic, but he’s also never beaten a champ, or former champ. Topuria in fact is just six fights into his UFC career and while surging, is about to get the toughest test of his career.
Of course that’s how it should be, the champ is always the toughest test. And win or lose, Topuria is likely to be around the title scene for quite some time. What really matters going into UFC 298, however, is that for once, the promotion has put together not only the most marketable but the most genuinely deserved title fight possible.
Our picks are in for the UFC 298 main card — here’s how we see Saturday night in Anaheim playing out!
| Writer/Fight | Hernandez vs. Kopylov | Dvalishvili vs. Cejudo | Neal vs. Garry | Whittaker vs. Costa | Volkanovski vs. Topuria |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Behunin (13-8) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Jay Anderson (13-8) |  |  | | |  |
| Chris Prawdzik (12-9) | | | | | |
| Cade Morehouse (8-7) | | | | | |
| Jamie Theodosi (11-10) | | | | | |
| Eddie Law (10-10) | | | |  | |
| Dylan Rush (8-9) | | | | | |
| Patrick McCorry (8-13) | | | | | |
| Val Dewar (5-10) | | | | | |
Let’s get the lone consensus pick on the card out of the way first, shall we? Nobody sees Geoff Neal getting past Ian Garry, which is no doubt a testament to the Irish welterweight’s success thus far. Are we overlooking Neal, who is absolutely no slouch and a dangerous opponent to anyone in the division? We’ll know soon enough.
When it comes to the main event, we’ve got Alexander Volkanovski retaining over the unbeaten Ilia Topuria by an eight to one margin. That same margin presents itself in the co-main event, where we heavily favor ex-champ Robert Whittaker over Brazil’s Paulo Costa, with or without his “secret juice.”
Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez and Merab Dvalishvili, meanwhile, have the edge in their UFC 298 fights.
