Alexander Volkanovski stays UFC champ with TKO of Yair Rodriguez - ESPN

LAS VEGAS — Yair Rodriguez had his best moment of the fight, landing a grazing right head kick that snapped Alexander Volkanovski's head back, then following with a combination, including a left that landed flush to Volkanovski's jaw.

Volkanovski nodded his head in acknowledgment of the blows. Then, he delivered a bruising right hook of his own that hurt Rodriguez badly. Volkanovski went in for the takedown and fired off a barrage of big punches from top position en route to a TKO at 4:19 of the third round Saturday in the main event of UFC 290 here at T-Mobile Arena.

With the victory, Volkanovski retained the UFC featherweight title. Rodriguez came in as the interim featherweight champion.

«I'm the king of this division,» Volkanovski said in his postfight interview in the Octagon. «No one is ever stopping me.»

Before UFC 290, ESPN had Volkanovski tied for No. 1 on its pound-for-pound MMA list with UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. At featherweight, Volkanovski was ranked No. 1 and Rodriguez was No. 3.

Volkanovski said some «fear» crept in during this training camp, because of how potent and creative Rodriguez's offense can be. Rodriguez, taller and longer than Volkanovski, is a striking specialist who attacks from all angles with all of his weapons, from fists to elbows to knees and whipping kicks. It certainly did not help Volkanovski that the crowd was overwhelmingly in favor of Rodriguez with several Mexican fighters like Rodriguez on the card in an area with a large Mexican American population.

But Volkanovski said he was able to turn a switch this week and focus on the task at hand.

«You've gotta expect the unexpected,» Volkanovski said. «That's Yair. Anyone who knows this game knows how dangerous he was.»