Preview: UFC 298 ‘Volkanovski vs. Topuria’

Bantamweights
Merab Dvalishvili (16-4) vs. Henry Cejudo (16-3)
Odds: Dvalishvili (-198), Cejudo (+164)

Bantamweight might be the UFC's deepest division, and while this fight adds to the potential that the title picture can remain a bit muddled, it's an excellent pairing with a lot of intrigue. Merab Dvalishvili is running one of the hottest streaks of success in the sport at the moment, which makes it easy to forget just how rough his UFC career started off in 2017; "The Machine" was a relentless takedown artist but had little to back that up in terms of defense or effective offense back in those days, resulting in split decision and submission losses to kick off his UFC tenure. But the Georgian has reeled off nine straight wins in the years since and at this point appears absolutely unstoppable. Dvalishvili still isn't much of a finisher, as his only UFC win inside the distance was a second-round comeback against Marlon Moraes, but nobody in the sport seems capable of keeping up with his pace over 15 or 25 minutes; even beyond the durability he's shown over the years, Dvalishvili's output in his last win over Petr Yan seems absolutely inhuman, as he threw 401 strikes while attempting a record-shattering 49 takedowns over five rounds. After a previous slog of a win over Jose Aldo, it was nice to see Dvalishvili go back to melding his approach with more effective offense in his fight against Yan, landing some big moments and doing more than just winning with takedowns; in another universe, that victory would both separate Dvalishvili as the clear top contender for the bantamweight title and earn him a deserved title shot. But instead, he's been passed over for Marlon Vera; Dvalishvili was initially unwilling to fight training partner and close friend Aljamain Sterling when Sterling was champion, and with Sean O'Malley now holding the belt, some combination of O'Malley wanting to avenge a loss to Vera and the UFC's unhappiness with Dvalishvili has wound up with the Georgian facing a difficult matchup here against former champion Cejudo.

The intrigue of Dvalishvili's matchup against Cejudo is fairly clear; Dvalishvili's a standout wrestler, but here he's running into an Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling, Cejudo's first step in what's turned out to be an underratedly great combat sports career. After winning that gold medal in 2008, Cejudo transitioned to mixed martial arts in 2013, where his career got off to a rocky start; Cejudo looked good inside of the cage, but he kept missing weight to the point that there were concerns about his professionalism and he was nearly released from his UFC contract. But that seemed to motivate Cejudo to get all his ducks in a row, at which point it was off to the races; he eventually marched up to a title shot against Demetrious Johnson in 2016 that he lost in one-sided fashion, but seemingly used that defeat as another point of motivation, building out an improved striking game and ending Johnson's dominant title reign in 2018. That would've been a launching pad to stardom for most fighters, but the UFC seemed over the concept of the flyweight division at that point, giving then-bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw a shot at the 125-pound title in a fight that seemed intended to end the flyweight title lineage. And while Cejudo knocked out Dillashaw in 32 seconds - which was apparently enough to save the division - he wound up abandoning the division himself, beating Moraes for what was then a vacant bantamweight title, defending that title against Dominick Cruz and then retiring in 2020 after that win. That left Cejudo's bantamweight title reign as a strange footnote of sorts as the division eventually moved on until his sudden comeback last May, where Cejudo was seemingly the A-side in an immediate title shot against then-champ Sterling. And while Cejudo wound up on the losing end of a decision, he still acquitted himself shockingly well after a three-year layoff against a tough test, turning the wrestling matchup into a stalemate while holding his own with a much longer fighter. That's another point of intrigue of this fight against Dvalishvili, even beyond the wrestling dynamic; Sterling is a much differently built fighter to say the least, and Cejudo figures to look even more effective offensively against someone closer to his own squat frame. This might be the toughest fight in the division for Dvalishvili, as Cejudo seems the best equipped to stall out that wrestling game, but that also presumes there's actually a way to stall out Dvalishvili; between his relentlessness in chaining together takedown attempts and willingness to keep scrambles going, Dvalishvili figures to at least drag an even fight out of Cejudo rather than get halted and controlled. At that point it's hard not to favor Dvalishvili through initiative and activity, though this might be the best-matched fight on the card even considering the excellent main event; the pick is Dvalishvili via decision.

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Volkanovski vs. Topuria
Whittaker vs. Costa
Neal vs. Garry
Dvalishvili vs. Cejudo
Hernandez vs. Kopylov
The Prelims