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The biggest fight card in Australian history is here – and it’s going to be a monster day for fight fans.
Ilia Topuria might be the most confident title challenger Alexander Volkanovski has ever faced.
The Australian superstar is far from concerned though, and is desperate to bounce back from his last-fight disappointment.
Robert Whittaker is also co-headlining today’s fights, with his middleweight bout with Paulo Costa a sure-fire winner.
Follow live with Brendan Bradford, who is on the ground in Anaheim, California, to bring you the latest news and updates.
2.50PM: OLD MAN VOLKS HIT ARENA
As the pay per view portion of the card starts, the Old Man Volk costumes are catching on.
The character Volkanovski used to unsettle Topuria and hit back at his doubters went viral across social media this week and has spawned lookalikes.
Including these four blokes sitting in the second row.
We’re told one of them is a hugely popular YouTuber from Australia named Shammi.
Meanwhile, local favourite Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez has just kicked off the PPV and sent the crowd wild with a second round submission win over Roman Kopylov.
It caps off a rough week for Kopylov, who attended the press conference, but wasn’t asked a single question.
2.20PM: DERN CELEBRATES LOSS IN BIZARRE SCENES
Fan favourite McKenzie Dern was left a bloody mess after a three-round war with Amanda Lemos, before momentarily celebrating despite losing a unanimous decision.
In the featured prelim, Dern – a jiu jitsu specialist – won the opening round, but came desperately close to being finished in the second.
With Mark Zuckerberg watching on from cageside, a huge overhand right from Lemos sent Dern reeling across the Octagon, before a left hook dropped her on her back.
Lemos hammered in some nasty ground and pound, with referee Mike Beltran nearly stopping the fight, before Dern escaped.
Dern fired up the crowd at the close of the round, but she had a massive welt on her left cheek and blood all around her right eye.
Lemos won the fight with three scorecards of 29-28, but for half a second, Dern thought she had won and started celebrating.
Dern collapsed to the canvas after realising she’d lost, and was distraught as she exited the cage.
1.32PM: AUSSIE HERO PAYS PRICE FOR BRAVE CALL
Junior Tafa’s bold decision to replace his injured older brother, Justin, against Marcos Rogerio de Lima has ended in defeat after a leg injury left him virtually incapacitated in a second round TKO loss.
Tafa became an instant crowd favourite after stepping in on just 34 hours’ notice after Justin injured his knee during fight week.
Junior earned huge cheers at the weigh-ins after his “training camp” consisted of just 10 push-ups in the hotel lobby the day before the fights.
In a cruel twist of fate though, Junior also picked up a debilitating leg injury to match his brother’s in the opening minutes of the bout.
It was a series of devastating lower leg kicks that forced Tafa to limp out of danger after just 90 seconds.
Brazilian veteran de Lima landed a smooth double-leg takedown with two minutes remaining in the opening round, and Tafa was eventually forced to hop to the corner, unable to put any weight on his left leg.
Barely able to move in the second, Tafa swung for the fences, but the wily de Lima was able to stay out of trouble.
Another brutal leg kick a minute into the second saw Tafa drop to the mat, simply unable to stand up.
De Lima landed a few punches on the ground before referee Frank Trigg stopped the action 1:14 into the round.
12.57PM: EX-NRL STAR SPOTTED CAGESIDE
Former Dragons legend Matt Cooper is in the house, sitting in an exclusive section a few seats along from WWE superstar CM Punk.
Cooper, who made his boxing debut last year, arrived at the Honda Arena for the early prelims before supporting fellow Illawarra icon Alex Volkanovski in the main event.
After arriving, he had a quick catch up with Nitro Circus star Ryan Williams before settling in to watch the action.
A longtime fight fan, there had been talk for years that Cooper would make the switch to MMA once his footy career ended.
He fought Justin Hodges in October, dropping a points decision to his one-time State of Origin rival.
11.15AM: VOLKANOVSKI RIVAL’S SURPRISE FIGHT WEEK GIFT
They might have been bitter rivals for a few months, but there’s no bad blood between Alex Volkanovski and lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
Makhachev, who won a pair of 155-pound bouts against Volk last year, even sent the featherweight champ a present for his kids this week.
The gift comes days after Volkanovski told a hilarious story about his daughter being scared of home intruders.
“I told her, ‘I’m right, here, I’m the world champion, I’m sure I’ll sort it out’,” Volkanovski said in the clip, before adding the zinger.
“And she goes, ‘But what if it’s Islam Makhachev??’”
The clip made its way to Makhachev, who sent Volkanovski a package.
“Islam must have felt a little bit bad, and sent some presents for the girls,” Volkanovski said ahead of his fight with Ilia Topuria later today. “There was a message and he just said, ‘Tell them I’d never come to the fight uninvited.
“He’s a good human being, Islam, and it’s much appreciated.”
10.15AM: WE’RE LIVE FROM ANAHEIM
We’re live on the ground from the Honda Center in Anaheim, and the fights are just about to get underway.
Alex Volkanovski is rolling alongside some heavy hitters, with NBA superstar Jamal Murray joining his entourage yesterday.
Volk has also promised a massive surprise later in the day, but wouldn’t reveal any more details when pressed by this masthead.
Fans are speculating whether it’s a UFC 300 main event reveal, or if another famous face is joining his crew.
8AM: UFC’S MOST-CONFIDENT MAN POSES HUGE THREAT TO VOLK
Ilia Topuria might be the most confident title challenger Alexander Volkanovski has ever faced.
In his first pay-per-view main event, and first world title fight, the 27-year-old breezed through hours of media interviews and press conferences with ease this week.
When I asked him: “If you win this weekend…” the Spaniard cut me off and corrected the question. “When I win this weekend.”
The 27-year-old is so confident that he’s already planning his first title defence, which he wants to be held at his beloved Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium against Conor McGregor.
And with a string of highlight reel knockouts to his name, he should be confident.
It wasn’t until he walked onstage for the fight week press conference that cracks appeared.
As the delirious crowd drowned him out with endless boos, he immediately grew angry. The cool exterior of the dapper fighter wearing nice suits and posing for social media photos with red wine and roses vanished.
Flustered, he swore at the crowd, pulled the finger and yelled at Volkanovski.
It could mean one of two things come fight night.
Topuria could channel that aggression into one of his notorious knockouts. Or he could let the occasion get to him, and melt under the pressure like he did at the press conference.
The first option makes him one of the most dangerous opponents Volkanovski has ever faced. Where past opponents like Max Holloway is a cardio machine with elite level striking, Brian Ortega is one of the best jiu jitsu practitioners in the UFC, and Yair Rodriguez can knock you out with shots you don’t see coming, none of them possess the kind of power Topuria does.
And that, according to one former UFC champion, could be the difference.
“Volkanovski wasn’t knocking people out until recently,” Henry Cejudo told this masthead. “If he goes in there and trades with the Matador, Topuria has more power.
“This dude puts people out, and that’s the difference. This dude’s got a little more fury in his punches.”
Cejudo wants to see Volkanovski use his footwork better than he did against Islam Makhachev in their rematch in October too.
“Lateral movement is the key,” Cejudo said. “Bring those fakes, inside kicks, outside kicks, and slowly bring in the hands once you break that foundation, then it’s his fight.
“But if he’s too linear, like he was against Islam, where he was just waiting, I think it’s Topuria’s fight.
“It’s in Volkanovski’s hands. He has the ability to make the adjustments, we’ve seen him change.”
Another key adjustment heading out of Volkanovski’s knockout loss to Makhachev and into this weekend’s featherweight defence is the re-introduction of Eugene Bareman.
The head coach at Auckland’s City Kickboxing, Bareman felt taking the short-notice Makhachev rematch was a bad idea, and with prior engagements, he was unable to travel to Abu Dhabi to corner Volkanovski.
This time around though, he’ll be back in Volk’s corner.
“He’ll be here, he comes in the next couple of days,” Volkanovski told this masthead on Wednesday. “He’s busy and they were doing other stuff fight week, but he’ll be here in the corner for fight day.”
Volkanovski spent several training camps at City Kickboxing during his run to the title, but does all his training at his Windang gym these days.
Bareman, who guided Israel Adesanya to the middleweight title, is a vital voice in the corner, working alongside Volkanovski’s longtime coach Joe Lopez.
“Everyone does their part, we’re a team and we stick together,” Volkanovski said. “We have our group chats where we’re game-planning, sending sparring footage and going over things we can change.
“Everyone puts their two cents in.”
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