UFC 290: Star MMA fighter Alexander Volkanovski retains his title after beating interim champion Yair Rodriguez in Los Angles

In the latest UFC 290, Alexander Volkanovski continued his dominance with a special victory over interim champion Yair Rodriguez. With this victory, he retained his titles. Volkanovski dominated the Mexican on the mat for the majority of the first two rounds, and just as Rodriguez started to come alive in the striking exchanges, Volkanovski shot back with a big right hook to set up a ground-and-pound finish in Round 3.

Alexandre Pantoja won an exciting back-and-forth battle with Brandon Moreno in the co-main event, gaining the flyweight belt from the Mexican with a split-decision victory. Pantoja improved to 3-0 over two-time champion Moreno, whom he also defeated in 2016 and 2018.

Earlier in the evening, Dricus Du Plessis of South Africa stunned ex-middleweight champion Robert Whittaker by TKO before engaging in a heated argument with defending champion Israel Adesanya. Meanwhile, former US President Donald Trump watched the whole game from ringside.

"I flipped the switch", says Volkanovski after winning the game

After winning the game, Alexander Volkanovski said that he flipped the switch today. He said, "Whether I put that in my head from a mindset to make sure I prepared properly, I don't know. But this week, I flipped the switch. I prepared the way I did because of the man I respected. But a couple of days ago, my mindset switched. I'm the champ. I'm the king of this division. No one was ever stopping me, so this is where we come in and do our thing."

"You know, people talk about being well-rounded; well,  I've shown up for wrestling, and I'm sure I could grapple and strike with the best of them. I'm really coming for all of those records. I’m pretty close to taking off a few of those. I've got a lot of goals ahead of me, but hey, the sky’s the limit. I might be in this position right now, but I guarantee you I'll be in the gym next week busting my ass again."