SUMMARY
- UFC 298 is set to take place on February 17, 2024, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
- In the main event, Alexander Volkanovski will be defending his Featherweight belt against Ilia Topuria.
UFC 298 is just a few hours away from fans, and the hype for the pay-per-view event is unimaginable. As fighters prepare themselves for the big day, fans have started talking about the event with increasing excitement. The UFC fandom is promised one thing at the second PPV of the year, and that is undefeated fighters putting their professional records on the line.
One of the greatest achievements a fighter can have on his resume is being undefeated. While many fighters don’t finish their careers as being undefeated, it is still a great tag to have when going into a fight. Fighters draw a sense of pride from being undefeated inside the octagon. At UFC 298, there will be four undefeated fighters entering the octagon.
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UFC 298 will get underway at 6.30 PM ET with the Early Prelims. The stacked main card starts at 10 p.m. ET and is headlined by Ilia Topuria taking on Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight championship. The event will take place on February 17 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. So let’s take a look at the fighters who will be setting their undefeated record at the event.
Danny ‘LeftHand2God’ Barlow
Making his debut in the UFC, Danny ‘LeftHand2God’ Barlow will be looking to clinch victory on his debut. The welterweight will enter the cage as an undefeated professional MMA fighter. Barlow has previously fought in the Attitude MMA promotion, where he held the Attitude MMA welterweight championship. Furthermore, the fighter holds an active win streak of seven professional wins in MMA.
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Currently having a professional record of 7-0-0 in MMA, Danny won the Dana White Contender series in September 2023 to secure a UFC contract. At UFC 298, Danny ‘LeftHand2God’ Barlow will be making his debut against Josh Quinlan after his bout with Yusaka Kinoshita got canceled. The 28-year-old will be fighting in the second fight of the night in the Early Prelims.
Rinya ‘Hybred’ Nakamura
Rinya ‘Hybred’ Nakamura made his UFC debut in 2023 against Toshiomi Kazama in February. After knocking out his opponent 33 seconds into the first round, the Japanese fighter followed up his debut win with another victory in August against Fernie Garcia.
Nakamura holds a current professional MMA record of 8-0-0 and will be up against Ecuadorian Carlos Vera in the Prelim card of UFC 298. Rinya has a background in freestyle wrestling and has won many medals in the sport.
He made his way into the UFC after winning the ‘Road to the UFC’ series. The 28-year-old fighter will be putting his undefeated record on the line when he steps into the octagon.
Ian ‘The Future’ Garry
Ian ‘The Future’ Garry holds a professional MMA record of 13-0-0 and currently fights in the welterweight division. He is possibly one of the most talked-about and controversial fighters on the UFC roster in the past five months. The Irish fighter is still undefeated in his MMA career and is also a former Cage Warriors Welterweight Champion.
In his UFC career, Ian Garry has a record of 6-0 with 3 knockouts and 3 unanimous decision victories. Currently ranked #10 in the UFC welterweight rankings, Garry will be gunning to climb up the rankings with a win at UFC 298. He will be up against UFC veteran Geoff ‘Handz of Steel’ Neal in the welterweight bout on the main card.
Moves will be made in the welterweight rankings after tomorrow night ‼️@HandzOfSteelMMA vs @IanGarryMMA
[ TOMORROW | Live on @ESPNPlus PPV | #UFC298 ] pic.twitter.com/V4PPKZn4nZ
— UFC (@ufc) February 17, 2024
The Irishman will be looking for his 7th straight UFC win, which surely will place him in the upper echelons of the welterweight division. ‘The Future’ is not the fighter at UFC 298 with an unbeaten record while having double-digit wins, though.
Ilia ‘El Matador’ Topuria
Ilia Topuria holds an unbeaten professional MMA record of 14-0-0 and a UFC record of 6-0. Out of those six wins, Topuria has finished four of his opponents inside the first two rounds. The Georgian-born fighter has shaken up the UFC featherweight division ever since his debut in October 2020. He is currently ranked #3 in the UFC featherweight division.
But all of that won’t matter tonight, as all eyes will be on the fiery challenger’s bout against the composed champion, Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski. Volkanovski has been the champion of the featherweight division for the past three years. No one has ever come close to defeating the Australian in the featherweight division.
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El Matador will be aiming to do something nobody has done before, i.e., defeat the champion at 145 lbs. On the other hand, his opponent, Volkanovski, will be aiming to do something nobody has ever done, i.e., defeat Ilia Topuria in his MMA career. Many have coined this as one of the most entertaining matchups at featherweight, only paralleled by the legendary bout between Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor.
And just like that one, this fight also had an exciting lead-up to it, with a lot of bad blood building up between the two fighters. Alexander Volkanovski, the greatest featherweight of all time, will defend his title against the undefeated Ilia Topuria in the main event of UFC 298.