After the hard-hitting battles fought inside the Octagon in UFC 297, Ultimate Fighting Championship looks to turn up the stakes even higher at their next flagship event. UFC 298 will be held at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, United States this February and will feature more intense matches from all the weight classes. Expect every fighter in the event looking to secure a spot at the top of the league, while champions defend their titles with ferocity that would match their challengers. Here’s a preview of what’s to come in the UFC’s next flagship event.
Featherweight Division - Alexander Volkanovski vs Ilia Topuria
Featherweight division champion Alexander Volkanovski looks to ferociously defend his prestigious title against his challenger Ilia Topuria. The match will be main eventing the stacked card and both fighters are expected to give everything out in the Octagon, especially since the stakes are high for both fighters.
The fight will be Volkanovski’s sixth defense as the featherweight champion and a few pundits are quick to note that it will be the Windang wrestler’s toughest bout yet. Should he win this fight, he’ll add another notch to his eventual legacy as arguably the best featherweight division fighter that the UFC has ever had.
However, the Georgian-Spanish striker has other plans. Ilia Topuria is set to decorate his lossless record even more by finally getting a title opportunity against the champion in their main event match. Topuria has proven his mettle by going through the likes of Josh Emmett, Bryce Mitchell and Ryan Hall. Now that he’s close to the top, a heated battle is expected between him and Volk.
Sports pundits and betting sites seem to agree that Volk is likely to win the bout. As a result, online casinos favor the Australian wrestler heavily against Topuria. Fans interested in the match can find the best sports betting sites here to take a look at the odds should they want to place some wagers.
Bantamweight - Merab Dvalishvili vs Henry Cejudo
Two of the best wrestlers in the UFC will duke it out in Anaheim as Merab Dvalishvili and Henry Cejudo look to claim wins over the other in the bantamweight division. Both fighters carry forward momentum, especially since they are coming off with recent wins from their recent respective matches. As both of the top fighters in their division, with Dvalishvili currently sitting at the second spot and Cejudo at the third, the stakes could not be higher for both elite fighters.
Dvalishvili now has ten wins in his fight record after dominating a former champion in Petr Yan. The Georgian wrestler faces yet another champion in Cejudo, a fight that he holds in high regard. A win against Cejudo will certainly provide a clear path to the number two fighter in the bantamweight division to the champion Sean O’Malley.
But the former two-division champion showed that he did not miss a step since coming back from retirement. While Cejudo lost his title match fight as the challenger against Aljamain Sterling, the fight was quite close with Sterling winning with a very close split decision. Cejudo is excited to face the Georgian wrestler and hopes to regain the momentum back to his side.
Fans wanting to bet on the matches should mind that Dvalishvili is predicted to win, based on odds in most online casinos. Pundits say that the winning streak Dvalishvili currently has will carry him in the match. However, Cejudo is expected to put up a fight and won’t hand Dvalishvili the win easily.
Middleweight - Robert Whittaker vs Paulo Costa
The middleweight division is also out to create a barnburner of their own for the pay-per-view event. Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa are set to meet in the Octagon in a bout between the division’s two top-tens. As with all the matches in the card, the stakes are high for both fighters.
Whittaker is looking to recover his foothold after Dricus du Plessis handed him his second loss since moving up to the middleweight division. His first loss was at the hands of Israel Adesanya but the Australian striker recovered valiantly after defeating Marvin Vettori. The former middleweight champion is set on the path to claiming glory by defeating Paulo Costa on UFC 298.
Sports betting sites would say that Whittaker is favored to dominate Costa during their match. This is because Costa will face Whittaker in his first fight in five years because of availability issues. But Costa says that he will come in with full confidence when facing Whittaker in their fight, especially after announcing that his elbow surgery went better than initially expected.
Welterweight - Geoff Neal vs Ian Machado Garry
The welterweight division is also packed with intense fights for UFC 298. After they had their fight postponed twice, it seems that Ian Machado Garry will finally get to play out his dream match so far against Geoff Neal. Both fighters look to climb the division ladder by claiming a win at the expense of the other.
Fans have been waiting for this matchup ever since Garry called out Neal after the Irishman won his most recent match against Neil Magny. Garry wore a shirt that had a mugshot of Neal on it when he was declared winner against Magny. Much like his mentor and trainer Connor McGregor, Garry demonstrated his affinity for stirring drama through his comments about the Strickland-du Plessis bout. He sets his sight to even further decorate his undefeated record in the division on UFC 298 when he finally faces Neal.
As anyone could guess, Neal did not take Garry’s gesture of wearing a shirt with his mugshot on it too kindly. The division veteran previously had a DUI charge made against him, which was the origin of the mugshot shirt Garry wore to call out his opponent for UFC 298. Apart from settling a score with Garry, Neal is eager to secure himself a place at the division ladder once again for a title contendership through a win on the pay-per-view event.
Sports betting sites favor the undefeated Irishman over Neal. Coming in without a blemish on his fight record, Garry showed a tremendous display of domination against Magny, something that may indicate how tough the fight will be for the 33-year old veteran striker. It also doesn’t help that Neal lost his last bout to another undefeated fighter in Shavkat Rakhmonov, which marks his fifth career loss in the UFC.
There are still more fights in the UFC 298 match card, with even more fights in the women’s strawweight division involving Amanda Lemos facing Mackenzie Dern. The women's flyweight will also feature Andrea Lee against Miranda Maverick. Zhang Mingyang and Brendson Ribeiro, meanwhile, will be fighting in the light heavyweight division. Finally, UFC 298 will also feature a heavyweight division matchup between Marcos Rogério de Lima fighting against Justin Tafa.
