Midnight Roundup! "Old Man Volk" falls asleep at the UFC 298 presser, RIZIN caught in fraud case, Mackenzie Dern talks divorce, and more
Alexander Volkanovski won over the UFC 298 press conference with his hilarious "old man" persona while Ilia Topuria continued his trash-talk. Paulo Costa remained his brand of outrageous, while Merab Dvalishvili whipped out a Mexican flag.
Catch up with your day's dose of MMA updates with Sportskeeda's Midnight Roundup.
Alexander Volkanovski falls asleep at UFC 298 press conference
Alexander Volkanovski, who came dressed as "Old Man Volk" at the UFC 298 press conference, stayed in character throughout despite provocation from Ilia Topuria.
At one point, he pretended to fall asleep while Topuria was talking. Paulo Costa played along with the joke and pretended to wake him up from his play-act slumber.
He also called Topuria a "Conor McGregor wannabe" and urged him to not interrupt when "Abuelo" was talking. The word means 'grandfather' in Spanish, which is Topuria's native tongue.
Check out the best moments from the press conference here or watch the full video below:
RIZIN reportedly involved in embezzlement
A recent report by Japan's NBS-TV claimed that two men arrested on suspicion of embezzlement were associated with the MMA promotion that operates under the name RIZIN.
Hiroyuki Murata, 63, a former Yamaura Corp. employee, and his eldest son Toshiki, 35, were arrested on Feb. 14, suspected of unlawfully withdrawing ¥360 million from a Yamaura subsidiary. According to the authorities investigating, Toshiki's company then loaned ¥200 million to Rizin the same day the money was transferred.
The report, leaked on MMA Reddit, sent fans into a frenzy. Read the comments here.
Mackenzie Dern silences fan over divorce debate
Mackenzie Dern, who recently confirmed her relationship with fellow MMA star Antonio Trocoli on Instagram, was facing some criticism about dating too soon after her divorce. She was previously married to surfer Wesley Santos, with whom she has a daughter, Moa.
Under a Valentine's Day post of her and Trocoli, one fan commented, "That didn't take long. But hell yeah!!!". Dern replied:
"Lol I broke up in 2022."
Take a look at the picture below:
Fighters guess kid photos of fellow UFC stars
Nina-Marie Daniele has put up yet another hilariously entertaining video with UFC 298 fighters, and this time, the athletes tried to guess childhood photos of fellow competitors. At one point, Paulo Costa cracked Daniele up by guessing Jon Jones' photo to be Mike Perry's.
Watch the clip below:
Geoff Neal thanks Ian Garry for the mugshot t-shirt
Come fight week, most brewing rivalries either boil over or fall into a place of respect between the two fighters. With Ian Garry and Geoff Neal, the latter happened.
The two seemingly squashed their beef amicably, and then Neal thanked Garry for wearing the t-shirt with his mug shot.
In the ceremonial face-offs, Neal said:
"Thank you for making that shirt. It motivated me."
Ilia Topuria may have cursed himself
Ilia Topuria posed with Alexander Volkanovski's belt ahead of UFC 298. One fan account on X pointed out that this could result in the same curse that hit Kelvin Gastelum and Derrick Lewis previously, where they lost the title fight after doing the same.
Also Read:
Mackenzie Dern's UFC 298 media day look steals the show
Midnight F*ck It Friday!
Watch Dana White try out a Brownie Dip on last week's episode of F*ck it Friday: