A highly anticipated middleweight bout between Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa is a new addition to the UFC 298 fight card. MMA event airs live from Honda Center in Anaheim, California on Saturday, February 17.
UFC President Dana White made the fight announcement today, along a series of other bouts across a number of cards.
Sydney, Australia-based former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (24-7) is looking to return to winning ways. In his previous outing in July, the 33-year-old native of Auckland, New Zealand was stopped by Dricus du Plessis in the second round of their 185-pound title eliminator. In September 2022, the division’s No. 3-ranked contender scored a unanimous decision against Marvin Vettori, after dropping a UD against Israel Adesanya in his bid to reclaim the title in their championship rematch.
Former middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa (14-2) was last in action in August 2022, when he defeated former champion Luke Rockhold by unanimous decision. Prior to that, the 32-year-old of Belo Horizonte, Brazil suffered a pair of losses, which includes a UD against Vettori in October 2021 and the second-round TKO against Adesanya in their championship fight back in September 2020. He is currently No. 6 in the middleweight rankings.
In the previously announced main event, Australia’s UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (26-3) defends his title against undefeated No. 5-ranked contender Ilia Topuria (14-0) of Germany. Among other bouts, Australian heavyweight Tai Tuivasa (14-6) takes on Marcin Tybura (24-8) of Poland. Plus, Merab Dvalishvili of Georgia faces American former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo at bantamweight.
The current UFC 298 lineup looks as the following:
- Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria, featherweight – Volkanovski’s UFC featherweight title
- Merab Dvalishvili vs. Henry Cejudo, bantamweight
- Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa, middleweight
- Geoff Neal vs. Ian Machado Garry, welterweight
- Tai Tuivasa vs. Marcin Tybura, heavyweight
- Tatiana Suarez vs. Amanda Lemos, women’s strawweight
- Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Justin Tafa, heavyweight
- Anthony Hernandez vs. Ikram Aliskerov, middleweight
- Mingyang Zhang vs. Brendson Ribeiro, light heavyweight
- Yusaku Kinoshita vs. Danny Barlow, welterweight
- Andrea Lee vs. Miranda Maverick, women’s flyweight
- Rinya Nakamura vs. Brady Hiestand, bantamweight
- Oban Elliott vs. Valentine Woodburn, welterweight
In the UK and Australia, UFC 298: Volkanovski vs Topuria airs live on Sunday, February 18.
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