“He was scared of the Power!” TJ Dillashaw explains why Alexander Volkanovski lost the featherweight title to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298

Alexander Volkanovski kept leaning away, reeling from challenger Ilia Topuria's power at UFC 298, but in vain.

“He was scared of the Power!” TJ Dillashaw explains why Alexander Volkanovski lost the featherweight title to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298

Merab Dvalishvili and Co. touch roots on Ilia Topuria's power display over Alexander Volkanovski (Source: Instagram)

Saturday’s UFC 298 main event at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. saw a big change in guard in the featherweight division. Ilia Topuria, now 15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC, dethroned Alexander Volkanovski with a sensational knockout in a hyped-up main event. The card also saw fellow Georgian, Merab Dvalishvili edge out former double-champ Henry Cejudo via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

On the heels of his dominant display against wrestling prodigy’, Tripe C’, Merab Dvalishvili appeared on the ‘JAXXON‘ Podcast along with TJ Dillashaw, weighing in on the weekend’s events. Speaking to co-host Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Bear Degidio in the segment “UFC 298 RECAP“, Dillashaw said: 

[On what went wrong] For me...I wanna know what Volk's game plan was...I'd like to be in his head before I do a complete judgment of it. But the way that I saw it like maybe his gameplan was, he was only throwing kicks...I know he was scared of the power. You can tell the way he was fighting...the first two rounds all he was doing was throwing kicks. He wasn't setting him up, he was just expecting to block him...slow him down.
TJ Dillashaw via JAXXON Podcast
YouTube video

Starting off, Ilia Topuria immediately came out pressuring with a boxing-heavy stance. Speaking with Jon Anik, for ESPN MMA, Topuria has already commended the rivals’ kicks and ground control, With the title gold on the line, nobody was making risky moves. The Spaniard patiently advanced with big leg kicks and right jabs at the opponent. Volk answered with ranged kicks under the torso. But answering a stiff jab from Volkanovski, he connected a big left.

FS Video

Alexander Volkanovski wobbled to the cage immediately. Holding to Demetrious Johnsons‘ sentiments of getting finished by just Topuria’s touch, the Aussie ate a hard right hand and a swarm of punches as Topuria employed ground-and-pound. But by then, it was already over at around the 3:32 mark of Round 2. Merab Dvalishvili’s all-wrestling affair on the card was similarly exciting.

Merab Dvalishvili explains why he has never made fun of bantamweight rival Henry Cejudo’s size

The weekend’s UFC 298 card saw some spectacular things transpire. From Junior Tafa, one of the most exciting short-notice replacements in recent history incurring a gruesome TKO stoppage. Mackenzie Dern’s brutal and bloody transformation against the elite striker, Amanda Lemos. This was followed by Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa engaging in a middleweight brawl for the ages.

Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298
Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298 (Source: Twitter)

And then there’s the title affair, where Ilia Topuria KOed former champ Alexander Volkanovski. Appearing on the ‘JAXXON‘ Podcast, Merab Dvalishvili, Quinton Jackson and Bear Degidio gave their nod to TJ Dillashaw’s assessment. That Volk was “leaning away from the power”, that Topuria dominantly displayed.

Touching roots on his match against Olympian Henry Cejudo, Dvalishvili explained why he never criticized Cejudo’s height; a running gag within the promotion. Check what he said, down below.

Stemming from Sean O’Malley, Cejudo’s height has been a well-gagged topic in the fight circle. Hours away from UFC Vegas 84, the year’s 1st PPV event, even Johnny Walker‘s troll on short-stacked Henry Cejudo went viral.

However, at 5′ 4″, 135 lbs, Cejudo is a 2007 Pan American Games gold medalist. Concurrently, he is the 2008 Summer Olympics winner in wrestling as well. At 5’6″, the Georgian form Serra-Longo Fight Team is similarly a combat Sambo practitioner. Fighting at UFC 298, Merab Dvalishvili dominated the Olympian with a squatted Peruvian neck-tie-like choke and a lift-and-body-slam, carrying him to Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg.

However, he refuses to subvert and demean the opponent, whom he competed against.

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