The title bout, which headlined the numbered event, ended at the 3:32 mark of the second round after Topuria pushed his opponent to the net with a series of three punches before a right hook sent him into a muffled knockout. Up to that point, the welterweights had been a competitive standup battle, with no clear advantage on either side.
In the post-fight interview, Elijah Topuria challenged Conor McGregor to headline the UFC event in Spain, while Alex Volkanovski made it clear that he expects to get an immediate rematch.
In the co-main event of the tournament, former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker put his career back on track after an early loss to Dricus Du Plessis, defeating former title challenger Paulo Costa twice by unanimous decision 30-27 and 29-28 over three rounds.
At the end of the first round, the Brazilian had a chance to win the fight early when he seriously shook his opponent with a leg kick from the turnbuckle, however, the Australian was saved at the half-time buzzer.
In the third main event of the event, undefeated Irish welterweight Ian Machado Garry picked up his seventh win in the world’s strongest league, winning a split decision over American Jeff Neil after three close rounds.
After the fight, booed by a disgruntled crowd, Garry challenged Colby Covington, promising to send the former UFC interim champion into retirement.
A potential lightweight contender fight between Henry Sehudo and Merab Dvalishvili went the full distance and ended with the Georgian fighter winning a 29-28 three round unanimous decision.
In the opening five minutes, “The Triple Champion” managed to shake his opponent with a left jab, however, Dvalishvili quickly came to his senses and stepped up the pressure after the break, eventually taking the remaining two rounds with confidence.
In a post-fight interview, Merab Dvalishvili stated that he wants to see the winner of the title fight between Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera headlining UFC 299 in Miami on March 9 as his next opponent.
Other results included a disappointing performance by Russian middleweight Roman Kopylov, who snapped a four-fight win streak with a knockout loss to American Anthony Hernandez by rear-naked choke in the second round.
Marcos Rogerio de Lima, Mingyan Zhang and Danny Barlow earned early victories.
All results from UFC 298.