UFC 290 LIVE: Volkanovski vs Yair Rodriguez results

Alexander Volkanovski continued his dominant run atop the UFC featherweight division on Saturday, stopping interim champion Yair Rodriguez to unify the titles.

Volkanovski controlled the Mexican on the mat for most of the first two rounds, and just when Rodriguez began to flicker into life in the striking exchanges, Volkanovski fired back with a hard right hook to set up a ground-and-pound finish in Round 3.

With the result at Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena, the Australian not only retained his featherweight title but bounced back from a narrow loss to Islam Makhachev – Volkanovski’s first defeat in 10 years, and one that occurred when the 34-year-old challenged for the lightweight belt in February.

Full UFC 290 report and results:

Is Ilia Topuria next for Volkanovski?

Volkanovski speaks to his fellow Australians:

Dan Hooker just posted an X-ray image online; he suffered a broken arm in his win over Jalin Turner earlier!

Volkanovski calls out Ilia Topuria, who is at ringside, but he also says he wants to go for the lightweight title again.

Volkanovski: “I’ve got to be honest: Throughout camp, there was a bit of fear there – for over his striking and how dangerous he is. That’s the honest truth.”

Alexander Volkanovski def. Yair Rodriguez via third-round TKO (punches, 4:19).

Round 3

Referee Herb Dean to Rodriguez: “This is a hard warning... don’t bring me into this fight.” He references Yair grabbing ahold of Volk’s gloves and digging his toes into the fence across the first couple of rounds.

Stabbing right cross from Volkanovski. Rodriguez flicks out front kicks, then a head kick that is blocked. Both fighters switch stances back and forth.

Volkanovski tries to grab a single-leg, but his challenger wriggles free. Nice step-in right hook to the head by Volk, though.

There’s a clash of heads, and we’ll have a pause in the action. Rodriguez actually came off worse; it’s like Volk, the shorter fighter, accidentally headbutted him on the chin while closing range.

We’re back under way. Slick one-two and low kick from Yair, who then repeats the one-two but kicks high. Volk fires back with a big right hook, though! He swarms Rodriguez, dumps him to the mat, and keeps punching!

Yair covers up and hits the mat! More punches from Volk... AND HERB DEAN STEPS IN!

Wowwwwww. It’s almost like Volk was annoyed by those two quick combinations from Rodriguez, and decided to get him out of there within SECONDS.