Aussie Rob Whittaker fighting to keep his career alive at UFC 298
Two of Australia’s greatest ever UFC champions are fighting to keep their careers alive in a high stakes fight card this weekend.
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Australia’s two most successful MMA combatants are fighting to stay at the top of the UFC world this weekend.
Alex Volkanovski is defending his featherweight title against rising star Illia Topuria at UFC 298 in Los Angeles on Sunday in his first fight since being knocked out by Islam Makhachev in their lightweight rematch.
UFC 298: VOLKANOVSKI VS TOPURIA | SUN 18 FEB | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the new exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View events!
The 35-year-old hasn’t lost a featherweight fight in his career but will have to buck the trend of champions aged over 35 winning just two out of 33 title fights between the flyweight and welterweight divisions.
Topuria is already acting like he’s champion and Volkanovski is determined to put the 27-year-old Spaniard in his place and extend his reign at the top of the division.
If he loses, Volk will undoubtedly command a rematch but a defeat would signal the beginning of the end for the veteran.
The high stakes fight card also features former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, who is fighting Paulo Costa in the co-main event.
Whittaker is desperate for another crack at the middleweight title after two losses to Israel Adesanya and a TKO defeat at the hands of new champion Dricus du Plessis in July last year.
Whittaker hasn’t won a fight via knockout since 2017 and he is determined to “hurt” Costa in a do-or-die bout on Sunday.
“I really want to hurt him and I don’t even know the guy,” the 33-year-old told Main Event.
“The objective isn’t to win, it’s to hurt Costa. I’ve trained for months to try to take his head off and I’ll be upset if it doesn’t get taken off.”
His loss to du Plessis took many MMA pundits by surprise and Whittaker has promised to bring more intensity to his fight with Costa.
“That’s an aspect I loosened the grip, the reins on in the last fight,” he said.
“I was kind of just in there with a headspace of just going to work. I don’t know, I didn’t like it.”
The stakes are high for Whittaker. Win and he could still fight the top dogs in the division and get another crack at the belt.
Lose and he might slowly fade down the middleweight rankings.
UFC 298 FIGHT CARD
Alexander Volkanovski vs Illia Topuria — featherweight title (main event)
Robert Whittaker vs Paulo Costa — middleweight (co-main event)
Geoff Neal vs Ian Garry – welterweight
Merab Dvalishvili vs Henry Cejudo — middleweight
PRELIMS
Amanda Lemos vs Mackenzie Dern — women strawweight
Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs Justin Tafa — heavyweight
Rinya Nakamura vs Carlos Verga — bantamweight
Zhang Mingyang vs Brendson Ribeiro — light heavyweight
Originally published as Aussie Rob Whittaker fighting to keep his career alive at UFC 298
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