The Bigger Picture | UFC 298

“El Matador” forecasted a two-year ascent when I spoke to him prior to his sophomore outing inside the Octagon against Damon Jackson in December 2020, and was aiming to finish Volkanovski inside of one on Saturday, and though he missed the mark on both, he reached his goal with his unbeaten record intact, delivering on his personal promise and the promise of his talents in spectacular fashion.

UFC 299 Event Page

You could see that Topuria carried the potential for greatness from those early forays into the UFC Octagon, if not before. He’d won all his pre-UFC appearances inside the distance, and then finished Jackson, Ryan Hall, Jai Herbert, and Bryce Mitchell in succession after going to the scorecards with Youssef Zalal in his short-notice promotional debut.

It’s not just the power of the crispness of his boxing, though those are both impressive — it’s the calculating manner with which the new champion operates inside the Octagon that stands out the most to me.

He found the combination to fell Jackson earlier in the contest, dealt with Hall’s awkwardness and Herbert’s length, and then only went to the canvas with Mitchell after having battered the Arkansas native to the point where he was certain to have his way with him on the deck. He boxed up Josh Emmett last June to push his record to 14-0 and position himself to challenge for the title, and on Saturday night, he took his time until a chance to land clean presented itself and he did not squander it.

Volkanovski had been doing quite well up until that point, but as soon as he opted to engage with Topuria along the fence, the Spaniard made him pay, dearly, catapulting himself to the top of the division with a clean right hand.

There was a great deal of “The Next McGregor” talk surrounding Topuria in the build to UFC 298, for various reasons: both were undefeated as they marched to featherweight gold, both were backed by nations looking to experience their first major moment on the grandest stage in the sport, and he aped “The Notorious” one by snatching Volkanovski’s title at the pre-fight press conference, as well.

MORE UFC 298: Fight Card | Final Results | Official Scorecards

It made a lot of sense, but it also, in my opinion, sells Topuria short and puts him in a potentially untenable position.

This man has become a superstar in Spain, receiving congratulations from Spanish sporting icons throughout the hours following his victory, and is primed to be at the vanguard of a rise in mixed martial arts in the country with this win, but expecting him to match the successes of McGregor thrusts him into a comparative situation that doesn’t need to exist and is difficult for him to win.

Every reign comes to an end, but Volkanovski stood atop the featherweight ranks for more than 1,500 days, successfully defended the title five times, and gave Makhachev all he could handle last February in Perth.

Those are tremendous achievements, and no one can argue otherwise.

A Difficult Journey to Navigate

Ian Machado Garry feels like a perfect current example of how the rush to find “The Next” anyone can be harmful to athletes.

The undefeated Irish welterweight, who ran his record to 14-0 with a split decision win over Geoff Neal over the weekend, was ticketed as “The Next McGregor” upon arrival in the UFC, only for fans to quickly start turning against him when he leaned into the branding too hard at the outset of his time with the promotion.

Since then, his performances have been a secondary or even tertiary topic of conversation amongst fans, pundits, and media, as the focus has shifted to his personal life and itinerant approach to training. While others are celebrated for speaking their mind and verbally challenging the opposition, Machado Garry got heat for reacting to a comment made by Neil Magny in the preamble to their UFC 292 pairing and has been getting shouted down every time he gets on a microphone ever since.

All of this has come while the clearly gifted fighter has continued to make strides in his game and beat increasingly difficult opposition, as well as voice some mature, well-formulated responses to his critics and detractors at times.

It hasn’t been flawless, by any stretch, and there are times when Machado Garry feels like someone still trying to find the right balance between being deservedly confident in his skills, thoughtful with his words, and happy to engage in the kind of pre- and post-fight banter that everyone seems to crave these days, but that’s understandable because he’s a 26-year-old still trying to figure everything out.

Does anybody have more fun in the Octagon than Merab Dvalishvili? The Georgian bantamweight ran his winning streak to 10 with a unanimous decision triumph over former two-division champ Henry Cejudo on Saturday, and looked to be having the time of his life — chatting with Mark Zuckerberg, tossing “Triple C” around like a grappling dummy, and lobbying for 10-round fights because he barely breaks a sweat going three rounds.

Lucky for Merab, he’s likely going to be booked in a five-round fight next because a championship opportunity appears to be in his future.

Anthony Hernandez has blossomed into a legitimate Top 10 talent in the middleweight division, and his evolution has been fun to watch. “Fluffy” spoke about addressing his conditioning following his second-round submission win over Roman Kopylov on Saturday, and more than anything else, that has been the key to his success.

The Dana White’s Contender Series grad has now won five straight, with three consecutive finishes, and is developing into one of those suffocating fighters few people are going to be hustling to face right before our eyes.