{"id":368641,"date":"2024-02-18T05:36:03","date_gmt":"2024-02-18T06:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=368641"},"modified":"2024-02-18T07:02:52","modified_gmt":"2024-02-18T07:02:52","slug":"volks-reign-ends-in-heartbreak-after-shocking-knockout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=368641","title":{"rendered":"Volk's reign ends in heartbreak after 'shocking' knockout"},"content":{"rendered":"

T\ufeffhe featherweight title reign of Alexander Volkanovski<\/a> has come to an end, with the Australian superstar knocked out in "shocking" fashion in the main event of UFC 298<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old had dominated the division for many years, but finally met his match in the form of rising star Ilia Topuria, who had claimed in the lead-up the Aussie was 'too old' to compete with his power.<\/p>\n

And while many shrugged off the comments, the proof was in the pudding as Topuria landed a brutal right hand in the second round, dropping Volkanovski and becoming \ufeffthe first Spanish fighter to hold a championship in the UFC.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Manly enforcer facing lengthy ban for crusher tackle<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Aussie heavyweight brutalised after accepting last-minute fight<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\ufeff<\/strong> Pucovski notches drought-breaking Shield century<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"Oh my god – the power, he is still out cold," Joe Rogan said on commentary.<\/p>\n

"That was so shocking."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Volkanovski has now lost two-straight fights, with his jump to lightweight on short notice last October against pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev coming at a major cost for the Shellharbour native.<\/p>\n

After the loss, Volkanovski urged Topuria to give him a rematch down the line for the featherweight strap – potentially in enemy territory.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/MAKHACHEVMMA\/status\/1759097354093809885?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"He has the power … well done to him, he caught me," Volkanovski said.<\/p>\n

"Credit to him, he's a hard hitter. He wasn't meant to land them like that, but he did.<\/p>\n

"I've been champion of this featherweight division for a long time … maybe we can have a rematch in Spain."\ufeff\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Volkanovski had successfully defended his UFC crown on five occasions after first defeating Max Holloway in 2019 to become just the second Aussie to win a title.<\/p>\n

Australia's first champion, Robert Whittaker<\/a>, was back in action in Los Angeles and secured a unanimous decision victory over Paulo Costa in the co-main event.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the night, Queensland local Junior Tafa fell short in his heavyweight bout<\/a>, stepping up to replace older brother Justin with just 24 hours notice. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

T\ufeffhe featherweight title reign of Alexander Volkanovski has come to an end, with the Australian superstar knocked out in "shocking" fashion in the main event […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":368643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368641"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=368641"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":368646,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368641\/revisions\/368646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/368643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=368641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=368641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=368641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}