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At UFC 298, Ilia Topuria defeated Alexander Volkanovski to become the new featherweight champion.
Following his victory, the Spaniard was called out by current bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley. Whilst 'El Matador' did not initially show much interest in the matchup, he has now taken to X to call out 'Sugar'.
He wrote this:
"Me vs. Suga. Who wants to see it?"
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See Ilia Topuria's post below:
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The pair are both 27 years old right now, and their respective title victories over dominant former champions Volkanovski and Aljamain Sterling could signal a changing of the guard in the UFC.
O'Malley and Topuria are both regarded as strikers, and a matchup between them could produce an epic war on the feet. 'El Matador,' however, is also a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, holds a background in Greco-Roman wrestling, and has elite grappling skills to boot.
With 'Sugar' less than two weeks away from his first title defense, a much-anticipated rematch with Marlon Vera set to headline UFC 299, the pressure will be on to secure a victory in hopes of a potential clash with the Spaniard.
Alexander Volkanovski reflects on UFC 298 loss to Ilia Topuria
Alexander Volkanovski was handed his first career defeat at featherweight when he was brutally knocked out by Ilia Topuria at UFC 298.
The long reign of 'The Great' came to an end in the second round of the pay-per-view main event, and following several weeks of reflection, he has shared his thoughts on the result.
After losing his title, theories about how the Australian's KO defeat to Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 affected his performance against Topuria. Volkanovski dismissed the notion that the two results were related at all, crediting 'El Matador' for making the right adjustments in the fight.
During a recent YouTube video, the former champion reflected on his UFC 298 defeat, and said this:
"Did I feel like myself in there? No not really. I think it's probably clear for most people that I didn't look myself in there. There's a few things that could come in to play with that... I just didn't fight my fight. I felt like I was fighting to not get caught, and that's just not my style."
Watch Volkanovski reflect on his loss to Ilia Topuria below from 0:55:
