The showdown between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria has officially been scheduled. The UFC 298 event, as promoted on Thursday, will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California on February 17. The Ultimate Fighting Championship had previously confirmed the featherweight championship fight between Volkanovski and Topuria as the main event and its date. However, the event’s location was not officially decided upon until recently.
This event will mark the first return to the venue since UFC 270 in the early part of 2022, which saw Francis Ngannou triumph over Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight title. The Honda Center, which is home to the NHL team Anaheim Ducks, has hosted numerous major UFC cards over the years. This includes UFC 76 titled “Knockout” that, curiously, didn’t have any knockout events and UFC 157 which introduced women’s MMA to the organization. Interestingly, this particular card will present the first men’s headline event in a division below light heavyweight for the venue, notwithstanding the previously cancelled UFC 233, which was set to have had Henry Cejudo in a rematch against T.J. Dillashaw for the bantamweight title.
Australian-born fighter, Volkanovski, is hoping for redemption after a previous failed attempt to secure the lightweight belt in October. Despite a commendable career that began in 2012, he was unsuccessful in his endeavor to take the 155-pound belt from Islam Makhachev, getting dismissed in just over three minutes. Nevertheless, Volkanovski remains undefeated in any weight class below lightweight and has successfully defended his featherweight title five times, including against notable opponents like Max Holloway, Brian Ortega, Chan Sung Jung, and Yair Rodriguez.
Ilia Topuria, known as “El Matador”, has so far enjoyed a victorious professional career, finishing 12 of his 14 opponents to date. Born in Germany to Georgian parents and representing Spain, Topuria has earned six wins within the Octagon, including four stoppages. He secured his chance for the championship by convincingly defeating Josh Emmett, with one judge even granting him a 50-42 scorecard in a dominant victory. Only a few other fights are so far set to join the UFC 298 card, including matchups between Marcos Rogerio de Lima and Justin Tafa, Danny Barlow and Yusaku Kinoshita, and Mingyang Zhang and Brendson Ribeiro.