Fight history

Topuria vs. Volkanovski, UFC 298: The Knockout, the Judges and the Stats

Volkanovski was ahead on all three cards and out-landing the challenger when one combination at the fence ended his four-year reign at 3:32 of the second round.

By Jashan Oct 26, 2026 · 8 min read

At a glance

ResultTopuria by KO (right hand), round 2, 3:32; referee Jason Herzog
The judgesAll three gave Volkanovski round 1; the individual scores were not published
The statsSignificant strikes 47-35 to Volkanovski; the only knockdown to Topuria
The stakesVolkanovski, champion since December 2019, was going for a sixth straight defence
The bonusTopuria took a $50,000 Performance of the Night award
Our card10-9 Volkanovski after round 1, then Topuria by knockout

What was at stake

Alexander Volkanovski had held the featherweight title since beating Max Holloway at UFC 245 in December 2019, which ESPN and UFC.com's title history both record. He had defended it five times, according to ESPN and the Associated Press, and he had never lost a featherweight fight in the UFC. But he came into UFC 298 on February 17, 2024, off two defeats in a row at lightweight, both to Islam Makhachev: a unanimous decision in February 2023, and a first-round knockout at UFC 294 in October 2023 in a rematch he took on short notice, as CBS Sports and LowKick MMA both report. He was 35.

Ilia Topuria was 27, 14-0, and had won all six of his UFC fights, the last a unanimous decision over Josh Emmett in June 2023, as ESPN and the AP both report. The fight had first been planned for January and was moved back a month when Volkanovski took the Makhachev rematch, according to Wikipedia and LowKick MMA, which quotes Ariel Helwani.

Topuria made no secret of what he expected. ESPN and the AP both note that he had called himself the UFC champion in his social media biography before the fight. He also predicted a knockout, though the reports differ on the round. In an interview in early February, reported by Yahoo Sports, he said: "I see myself finishing him in the first round – knockout." ESPN wrote that all fight week he said he would knock Volkanovski out in the second.

The official result and the judges' cards

Winner	Method	Round	Time	Referee
Ilia Topuria	KO (right hand)	2 of 5	3:32	Jason Herzog

UFC.com records the method as a knockout by right hand; the official statistics list it as KO/TKO, a punch to the head at distance. Sherdog and the official statistics both name Jason Herzog as the referee.

The fight ended inside the distance, so no final scorecards were read. The judges scored only the first round, and on that the reports agree. ESPN: "All the judges had Volkanovski winning the first round." Eurosport: "he was given the first round by all three judges". So Volkanovski led on every card when the second round began. Neither outlet prints the individual scores or names the judges, and we could not find two reports that do, so we do not print a judge-by-judge card.

The media did not agree on the round. All three of Sherdog's scorers gave it to Topuria, 10-9, and the AP wrote that Topuria "controlled the first round of his first UFC title fight with sharp punching". CBS Sports saw the opposite: its report says Volkanovski "largely controlled the opening frame through movement", though its live blog had called it "A competitive first round that could go either way." Topuria himself shrugged it off. "I don't need the judges," he said, according to ESPN. "When I'm fighting, they can take their time to break and rest a little bit."

Round by round

Round 1 - Volkanovski on all three judges' cards

Volkanovski moved and kicked. Sherdog has him sniping at Topuria "with kicks high and low" as Topuria came forward, and CBS Sports describes kicks to every part of Topuria's body; the official count credits him with 11 leg kicks landed from 11 thrown. Topuria answered with hard low kicks of his own and right hands, which both outlets describe, and one right hand stung Volkanovski and backed him to the fence. Late in the round Volkanovski landed knees, which Sherdog and CBS Sports both report. On the official numbers the round was Volkanovski's: 26 significant strikes landed to 15, 8 to 4 to the head and 11 to 4 to the legs, with the body count level at 7 each. Neither man completed a takedown.

Round 2 - Topuria by KO at 3:32

Topuria kept pressing forward, which Sherdog and UFC.com both describe, and Volkanovski kept jabbing: CBS Sports and Sherdog both report that his jabs cut Topuria's nose. Then the fight moved to the fence. The AP describes a left-right combination that staggered Volkanovski to the cage before "a perfect right hand followed by a big left" put him down. CBS Sports calls the punch that dropped him "an overhand right that sent Volkanovski crumbling to the canvas"; Sherdog's bonus report calls it a "clean right hook". Topuria landed a few more punches on the ground, CBS Sports and Sherdog report, and Herzog stepped in at 3:32.

Even with the finish counted, Volkanovski landed one more significant strike in the round, 21 of 55 to Topuria's 20 of 39. To the head it was 13 each; Topuria's 3 of 3 on the ground all came after the knockdown.

What the numbers say

The official statistics, round by round (Topuria first; landed/thrown for significant strikes):

Round	Knockdowns	Sig. strikes	Head	Body	Legs	Ground
R1	0 – 0	15/38 – 26/52	4 – 8	7 – 7	4 – 11	0 – 0
R2	1 – 0	20/39 – 21/55	13 – 13	5 – 4	2 – 4	3 – 0
Total	1 – 0	35/77 – 47/107	17 – 21	12 – 11	6 – 15	3 – 0

Volkanovski out-landed Topuria in both rounds and over the fight, 47 significant strikes to 35, and he threw far more, 107 to 77. Most of the gap is leg kicks, 15 to 6. The AP wrote that Volkanovski "didn't show his usual relentless work rate against Topuria before the fight abruptly ended"; the count says he was still the busier man by 30 significant strikes thrown in eight and a half minutes.

What the totals hide is how the second round changed. Volkanovski landed 50% of his significant strikes in the first round and 38% in the second. Topuria went the other way, from 39% to 51%, and to the head from 4 of 25 to 13 of 28; the finishing sequence is part of those second-round numbers. The official count records no takedown attempt by either man, and the only control time in the whole fight is Topuria's three seconds at the very end.

The numbers cannot measure power, and that is the story of this fight. On the main counts, significant strikes, head strikes and leg kicks, Volkanovski was ahead when it ended. The one that decided it was knockdowns, 1-0 to Topuria.

How we scored it

Round	MMA.SOCIAL	Why
R1	10-9 Volkanovski	26-15 in significant strikes, 11 of 11 leg kicks landed and the knees late in the round. Topuria's right hands were the hardest single shots, but he landed only 4 of 25 to the head.
R2	Topuria by KO	The combination at the fence, the right hand and the follow-up on the ground; stopped at 3:32.

Our card matches the judges' and CBS Sports' report. We see the case for Topuria in the first round: he came forward the whole time, and Sherdog's three scorers and the AP all rated his punches as the better work. But Volkanovski out-landed him by 11 significant strikes, kicked his lead leg all round and landed twice as many shots to the head. On the evidence, round 1 was Volkanovski's.

It made no difference. No scorecard decided this fight, and none could have taken it from Topuria: he finished it.

What happened next

"Well done to him. He caught me," Volkanovski said afterwards, as CBS Sports reported. "I was going to start working everything and he got me. Credit to him." He asked for a rematch on the spot: "Obviously, I've been the champion for a long time, and I want that rematch," he said, according to ESPN. "That's something that needs to happen." Dana White said of Topuria, ESPN reported: "He looks like a guy who could be one of the all-time greats." Topuria also took a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus, Sherdog and Cageside Press report.

The rematch has never happened. Topuria defended the title once, at UFC 308 on October 26, 2024, knocking out Max Holloway at 1:34 of the third round, the first man to knock Holloway out, according to Yahoo Sports and CBS Sports. Both outlets report that afterwards he said he was open to giving Volkanovski the rematch. Instead, in February 2025, he gave up the featherweight title to move up to lightweight, which Sherdog and Cageside Press both report, and Volkanovski won the vacant belt with a unanimous decision over Diego Lopes at UFC 314 on April 12, 2025, according to CBS Sports and UFC.com.

At lightweight Topuria knocked out Charles Oliveira in the first round at UFC 317 on June 28, 2025, to win the lightweight title, according to UFC.com and PostWrestling. At UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, 2026, he lost it to Justin Gaethje when his corner stopped the fight at the end of the fourth round. It was the first defeat of his career, which UFC.com and MixedMartialArts.com both record.

Volkanovski has kept winning. He beat Lopes again at UFC 325 in January 2026, 49-46, 49-46 and 50-45, which UFC.com and Al Jazeera both report. Two days ago, at UFC 333 on October 24, 2026, he stopped Movsar Evloev with punches at 4:54 of the second round, according to Yahoo Sports and UFC.com. CBS Sports and Yahoo Sports both note that it was his ninth win in a UFC featherweight title fight, one more than Jose Aldo.

The verdict

Topuria vs. Volkanovski is not a disputed result, and it was not as one-sided as its ending. For eight and a half minutes it was close, and on the official record Volkanovski was slightly ahead: all three judges had him up after the first round, and he out-landed Topuria 47 to 35. Topuria won it with the knockout he had predicted, and the second-round numbers show him landing far more cleanly than in the first. Both men come out of it well. Volkanovski, at 35 and four months after a knockout loss, gave an unbeaten challenger a competitive fight, and he has since won the title back and defended it twice. Topuria took the belt from a champion who had never lost at featherweight in the UFC, and he did not lose again for more than two years.

Full fight stats: Volkanovski vs. Topuria. The rest of the night: UFC 298. More: the most knockouts in UFC history, the most title-fight wins and the most title fights.

Sources

Questions

Who won Topuria vs. Volkanovski?

Ilia Topuria, by knockout at 3:32 of the second round at UFC 298 on February 17, 2024. He won the UFC featherweight title from Alexander Volkanovski and moved to 15-0.

How did Topuria knock out Volkanovski?

With Volkanovski near the fence, Topuria landed a combination and a right hand that put him down, then a few more punches on the ground before referee Jason Herzog stopped it.

Who was winning Topuria vs. Volkanovski before the knockout?

Volkanovski. ESPN and Eurosport report that all three judges gave him the first round, and he out-landed Topuria 47 to 35 in significant strikes. The individual scores were not published.

Did Topuria predict the knockout of Volkanovski?

He predicted a knockout, but reports differ on the round. In an interview reported by Yahoo Sports in early February 2024 he said the first round; ESPN wrote that during fight week he said the second, which is when it happened.

Did Topuria and Volkanovski have a rematch?

No. Topuria defended the title against Max Holloway and then gave it up in February 2025 to move to lightweight. Volkanovski won the vacant title against Diego Lopes at UFC 314 in April 2025.

Is Volkanovski still the featherweight champion?

Yes, as of October 2026. He won the vacant title at UFC 314, beat Diego Lopes again at UFC 325 and stopped Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 on October 24, 2026.