New champ Ilia Topuria has always had a swagger about him and by knocking out Alex Volkanovski, he let the rest of the world in on his secret

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- There was a swagger about Ilia Topuria long before he had the credentials to swagger. He came into the UFC in 2020 with an 8-0 record on the regional circuit and a belief in his ability many champions never possess.

From the moment he was chosen to face Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight title in the main event of UFC 298 Saturday at The Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., Topuria oozed confidence. He's 27, and for some young fighters, they talk boastfully as a way to hide their own insecurities. It's like they're whistling past the graveyard.

But a few times, though, it's because they know something the rest of the world doesn't know. When the bout was signed, Topuria changed his social media to reflect that he was the UFC featherweight champion. He brashly said he wouldn't give Max Holloway, Yair Rodriguez or Brian Ortega a shot at the title after he won the belt.

He was so outspoken that he either was going to look like a genius or leave the Octagon with egg dripping down his face.

Topuria proved his confidence was well-founded on Saturday when he dropped Volkanovski with a blistering right hand and then quickly finished him off on the ground to fulfill his pre-fight prophesy and win the UFC featherweight championship at 3:32 of the second round. 

He did it against the man widely regarded as the greatest featherweight of all-time, who had never lost at the weight, and he did it with the calm and the poise of a 10-year veteran. He'd seen this in his mind, and he worked tirelessly for years to turn that dream into a reality.

"Trust yourself, and anything is possible," an exultant Topuria said in the cage following the 15h, and most important, win of his career.

Volkanovski won the first on all three judges' cards, but it wasn't as if Topuria was being overwhelmed. His plan was to throw what he called "long combinations" of three, four, five or six punches from the outside. And while he saw Volkanovski celebrating some of his early successes, Topuria was smart enough, shrewd enough and poised enough to bide his time.

Topuria was looking for his opening, and when he saw it, he didn't waste the opporunity.

"He hit me with a couple of punches and he was celebrating like, 'Hahaha!' " Topuria said. "I was like, 'Soon it will be my turn.' I had to wait for it and wait for it."

He impressed UFC CEO Dana White with his poise. White heard all of the boasts and all of the talk about Volkanovski being an old man, and he knew Topuria had set himself up for either an epic fail or a mega-celebration.

"Listen, there were a lot of questions about him going into this thing," White said. "He'd never been in a main event like this. He'd never felt the heat like this, the pressure. And he couldn't have looked any better. And I thought Volk looked really good, too. That fight was heating up and they were exchanging. Topuria looked solid, man. Very solid."

No fighter 35 or older in UFC history had ever won a title fight from lightweight on down, and it still hasn't happened. Volkanovski is 35 and he heard those statistics and he shrugged them off.

But Volkanovski, who was coming off of a first-round knockout loss in a lightweight title fight to Islam Makhachev in October, couldn't beat the odds this time. He was too confident for his own good and the old gunslinger went down among a blizzard of fast, hard and accurate punches.

White said afterward the UFC would go to Spain for Topuria's first defense if there was a suitable venue available. Topuria, who called out Conor McGregor in the Octagon, said later that a rematch with Volkanovski made the most sense. He dissed the other challengers at featherweight and wasn't inclined to give them a shot.

Volkanovski had had the belt since Dec. 14, 2019, when he defeated Holloway at UFC 245. He clearly wanted another crack at Topuria.

"Obviously, I've been the champion for a long time, and I want that rematch," he said. "That's something that needs to happen."

He has a point. And now he knows what to expect from Topuria, a fast, composed and lethal champion.

Topuria's only going to get better, though.

"Listen, obviously Volk's one of the greatest of all-time and he's definitely the greatest in that weight class," White said. "Topuria looked damned good in his last fight and he looked damned good tonight. If he keeps his head together and continues to do what he is doing, he's going to be a force in that division."