UFC’s 2024 pay-per-view schedule full of fascinating matchups, but for UFC analyst Laura Sanko, the one that stands out most is the next championship bout on the calendar.
Alexander Volkanovski defends his featherweight title against Ilia Topuria in the main event of UFC 298, which takes place Feb. 17 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. It will be Volkanovski’s first fight since getting brutally knocked out by Islam Makhachev in October, which was Volkanovski’s second opportunity at the lightweight title.
In Sanko’s eyes, Volkanovski’s return to featherweight is the place he belongs.
“I loved his fights against Islam at lightweight, but there’s definitely a part of me that’s like, OK, we’ve seen that, close that chapter, we fell good about it, what happened happened, let’s just go back to being great,” Sanko told MMA Fighting. “Let’s just go back to doing what you do and reminding people how you are the GOAT of this division and on the list of all-time [greats]. I think that’s a tremendous fight [with Topuria].”
Volkanovski suffered two losses to Makhachev in 2023, including a very close decision loss at UFC 284, but in the middle of his quest for a second title, “The Great” ran through Yair Rodriguez in the main event of UFC 290 this past July.
Topuria has been on a tear throughout his pro career. The confident fighter has won all 14 of his professional bouts, including all six of his UFC appearances. In his most recent outing, Topuria dominated veteran Josh Emmett for five rounds at UFC Jacksonville in June.
With Volkanovski heading into 2024 reeling from a year where he lost more than he won, and Topuria coming in as strong as he is, the fascination for the championship contest couldn’t get much higher for Sanko.
“I think Ilia Topuria might really surprise some people and I think that the psychology of Alexander Volkanovski is going to be fascinating to me coming into this one coming off a bad knockout, coming off a [non-winning] season, and feeling the way inside of himself that he’s not necessarily used to feeling.
“Just kind of like [Israel Adesanya] when he went up to 205 and then when he came back, I’m always fascinated to see how guys handle that. But I’m telling you, if anybody will come back and look even better than he did before, it’s going to be Volkanovski.
“But man, Topuria [is] super, super, super dangerous. He is the right guy to be challenging for the title at this point, and I think poses a lot of really interesting problems. That’s the fight I’m looking forward to [the most].”