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With UFC 298 a couple of days away, we have an official prediction for the main event from Israel Adesanya. Elsewhere, we might get to see a marquee heavyweight bout later this year.
Read the top updates from the world of combat sports here at Sportskeeda's MMA News Roundup.
Israel Adesanya predicts UFC 298 main event
Israel Adesanya has given his official prediction for the featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria set to go down at UFC 298.
In a video uploaded on the FREESTYLEBENDER YouTube channel, the former UFC middleweight champion picked his winner:
"Alexander 'The Great' Volkanovski. I'm going to go late stoppage, round four. Yeah, round four, KO or TKO. I think he's just going to exhaust him."
Adesanya and Volkanovski train together at Auckland's City Kickboxing gym.
'The Last Stylebender' also provided a prediction for the Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa fight. He picked Whittaker to be the winner via unanimous decision. He has previously fought and won against both of them.
Paige VanZant reveals details of next fight
After a significant hiatus, Paige VanZant is returning to combat sports again. This time, it is going to be inside the boxing ring.
The former UFC fighter revealed on her podcast, A KickA*s Love Story that she accepted a boxing fight but has not signed the contract yet.
"I got called by my manager the day before yesterday, and I got offered a fight - a boxing match, and I took it. I don’t know if I can give all the details, I haven’t signed a contract yet. I accepted the fight."
She further revealed that the initial date was March 23, but the fight has now been postponed to May or June. She did not divulge who her opponent would be.
VanZant's husband Austin Vanderford shared a bit of fight news as well. He revealed that he negotiated his release from Bellator MMA and is interested in an opportunity to fight in the UFC.
Peter Murray teases major heavyweight news
The upcoming PFL vs. Bellator event, set to go down on Feb. 24 in Saudi Arabia, will feature the PFL heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira against the Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader in a highly-anticipated contest.
In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, PFL CEO Peter Murray revealed that a major announcement detailing what awaits the winner of the fight will be made following the main event.
Murray said:
"We're gonna deliver the fans the best fight on top of the card and we will be sharing some news following that fight and more to come on the next chapter for the fighter that wins that [main event] fight, you know, more details to follow."
It is noteworthy that Francis Ngannou is supposed to fight in MMA again later this year. One can expect the announcement to be something related to his promotional debut in the PFL.
Check out the full exclusive interview below [5:00 onwards]:
