‘Big’ John McCarthy believes if there’s anyone in the featherweight division who can beat Alexander Volkanovski, it’s Ilia Topuria.
On Saturday night, February 17, Volkanovski will look to score his sixth successful title defense in the UFC 298 main event. Standing in his way is an undefeated superstar in the making with 14-straight victories and a Conor McGregor-esque confidence in his ability to do what no man before him has done.
Topuria fought his way to his first championship opportunity with six wins under the UFC banner, his most recent coming against Josh Emmett at UFC on ABC 5 in June. Since then, he has treated his coronation in the featherweight division as a forgone conclusion, going so far as to update his social media profiles to read “UFC world champion” weeks before his showdown with ‘The Great’ in Anaheim.
Ilia Topuria stole Alexander Volkanovski’s belt at #UFC298 media day and the two exchanged some words 👀🏆 #UFC298 #UFC #MMA
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) February 14, 2024
Currently, Topuria sits as a slight +105 underdog on DraftKings with many pundits — including ex-UFC referee John McCarthy — believing ‘El Matador’ has the tools and the talent to shock the world come fight night.
“This is the guy,” McCarthy said during a recent episode of his WEIGHING IN podcast with Josh Thomson. “If I was going to pick a style to beat Volkanovski, Topuria is the guy and the reasons are this… First off, Topuria’s boxing is really good. It’s very clean. You throw a jab, he’s gonna throw a hand over the top of it. You throw a right hand, he’s gonna counter with a straight right down the middle. His hook to the body is as good as anybody’s in MMA. There is only one guy who throws a better left hook to the body and that was Paul Daley.
“Topuria throws it beautifully. It’s seamless the way he does it. He understands exactly what he’s doing, the why, and he’s always coming back and he throws in combinations for the most part. Many times threes and fours and it’s that third or fourth shot that ends up landing flush and does the damage.”
McCarthy is Still Back Alexander Volkanovski to Come Out on Top at UFC 298
With that said, McCarthy made it clear that his official pick for the highly anticipated headliner is Alexander Volkanovski, suggesting that Topuria’s lack of experience on MMA’s biggest stage will be the difference maker.
“I love Volkanovski and I can’t go against him because he is a monster as far as his belief in himself and he’s mentally strong. I love everything about him. But if I was going to pick a fighter and say that they’ve got a good chance of beating Volkanovski, it would be Topuria. I’m just not sure that Topuria has the experience of all the things that happen in MMA.”
Watch the full episode below:
