The Vanquished: What’s Next for the UFC 298 Losers

The Ultimate Fighting Championship wrapped up its second pay-per-view event of the calendar year with UFC 298 on Saturday at the Honda Center, which remains a revolving door of champions.

As the lore of past UFC events in Anaheim dictates, eight championships have changed hands out of nine title fights at Honda Center over the years. In the main event, Ilia Topuria fulfilled his fierce pre-fight prediction emphatically, knocking featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski off the throne in spectacular fashion. The co-main event, meanwhile, was the barnburner that fans expected from Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa.

With UFC 298 behind us, we take a look at the five vanquished competitors from the main card. Let's explore some of the matchup options for the athletes seeking redemption following the event.

Roman Kopylov

Kopylov was on the cusp of a solid performance until he was not in the opening fight of the main card of UFC 298 against Anthony Hernandez. The towering Russian challenger was riding on a four-fight win streak and carried the momentum in the first round of the clash at Anaheim. Hernandez weathered an early storm in the fight and struggled to secure takedowns in the first round. However, he pressed forward without hesitation in the second round, getting hit with multiple shots, inciting his opponent to unleash offense, all while sporting a smile with glint in his eyes. He secured Kopylov's back, and sank in two consecutive rear-naked chokes before Kopylov tapped to the third.

Kopylov needs a good matchup following the loss to accelerate back into the title trail. The fight with Hernandez was definitely a step up in competition for Kopylov and he proved his caliber in the first round. That said, a clash against Rodolfo Vieira, who recently secured a submission victory over Armen Petrosyan, presents as a solid option for Kopylov to regain his footing. Both fighters share a common ground in loss to Anthony Hernandez and seemingly align on equal footing in timelines for their next outing.

Henry Cejudo

Cejudo declared that he would retire if he lost to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298. An argument can be made that Cejudo presented a tougher challenge to the surging Georgian than others have in the past. However, it wasn’t enough to topple Dvalishvili. Cejudo had his moments in the first round, even managing to crack his opponent on the feet. However, the fabled pressure of Dvalishvili took over in the subsequent rounds, taking the wind out of the former two-division champion’s sails. “The Machine” emerged victorious, securing his 10th consecutive win and punching his ticket to title contention next.

Following the fight, Cejudo walked out of the cage holding the gloves in his hand, which has been a symbolic imprint of a fighter retiring from the sport. With that being said, it’s entirely Cejudo’s decision whether he wants to call it an end on an illustrious career or come back for a fight, in which options like a rematch with Dominick Cruz or a fight against fellow former champ Cody Garbrandt present as exciting prospects. It’s worth noting that Garbrandt is scheduled to fight Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 300.

Geoff Neal

Neal’s clash against rising contender Ian Garry at UFC 298 was contested entirely at striking range. The contest was a classic reciprocal scoring contest with Neal utilizing his boxing while Garry offered more volume and a greater variety of attacks, particularly with kicks. The fight lacked decisive moments and was contested as a see-saw point-earning contest with Garry holding a slender lead on points.

The judges were tasked with determining the victor and Garry got his hand raised via split decision. With this loss, Neal drops down to a two-fight losing streak, which limits his aspirations to become a champion. In any case, he still has some fun fights that he can explore. Given these circumstances, there are exciting prospects of either fighting Jingliang Li or Daniel Rodriguez that will surely kindle a flame of purpose for the 33-year-old veteran.

Paulo Costa

Costa shows up to fight every time he steps foot inside the Octagon. In the co-main event clash against former middleweight champ Robert Whittaker, the Brazilian delivered an early entrant for the best 185-pound fight of the year alongside his counterpart. The tone of the fight was established in the opening sequence as both fighters met in the center of the Octagon and tested each other with solid jabs and calf kicks. Whittaker found great success with several kicks to the lead leg of Costa. However, Costa launched a spinning heel kick in the final moments of the round that landed flush and wobbled Whittaker.

Whittaker bounced back in the second, continuing to outland Costa with leg kicks and his patented combinations. In the third, Whittaker amplified the offense in the second half and continued to connect at a brisker tempo than Costa, right through to the final horn. In the end, the judges scored the bout 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 in favor of Whittaker.

While this marks Costa’s third loss in four fights, the Brazilian remains a top-tier draw, preserving his star status. The Brazilian has been lobbying for a fight against undefeated prospect Khamzat Chimaev, which is not the decision route the UFC would be keen on now. In light of that, the timeline seems favorable to reschedule the fight against former title challenger Jared Cannonier which fell apart in 2021 due to contractual snags on the Brazilian’s part. Cannonier is currently recovering from an MCL tear, and his anticipated return is timed to potentially coincide with Costa's availability to return to action.

Alexander Volkanovski

UFC 294 heralded the ascension of a new champion as Topuria delivered on every promise and then some for the entirety of the fight. The undefeated challenger stalked the champion, looking for an opening to land a devastating shot to punctuate the victory. He missed a couple of times during the first round and through the midway point of the second. However, late in the same frame, as the two men got into close quarters along the fence, Topuria landed a fierce combination that folded Volkanovski. Following the conclusion of the fight, “The Great” leveraged past triumphs for a possible immediate rematch. While some fans and pundits reckon Volkanovski should take some time off considering he endured back-to-back knockout losses, Topuria claimed at the post-fight press conference that of all the options on table at 145 pounds, a rematch with Volkanovski, potentially in Spain, seems like a favorable option.

That is the only matchup that truly makes sense, considering the Australian has wiped out the top competition in the division. Volkanovski can also exercise the wait-and-recover approach till he gets the next crack at the championship since any fight further down the rankings would be a significant step down in competition.