Two of Australia’s greatest ever fighters will put their careers on the line today in what’s arguably the highest stakes card for Aussie fight fans in history.

Alex Volkanovski returns to featherweight for his sixth title defence in the main event against undefeated No. 1 contender IIia Topuria.

UFC 298: VOLKANOVSKI VS TOPURIA | SUN 18 FEB | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the new exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View events!

Robert Whittaker takes on Paulo Costa in the co-main event and simply must win to stay relevant in the middleweight division in his bid to earn another title shot.

The early prelims start at 10.30am AEDT before the main card kicks off starts at 12pm AEDT.

It’s not an exact science, but you can expect Whittaker to fight around 3.30pm and Volkanovski to enter the octagon around 4.15pm AEDT.

You can purchase the UFC 298 pay-per-view via Kayo Sports or Main Event.

Follow below for live updates.

12.31pm – ‘Senational’ KO to start card

China’s Zhang Mingyang has kicked off the preliminary fight card with a brutal knockout win over Brendson Ribeiro in their light heavyweight bout.

The fight began with some serious intensity but Zhang ended it inside 90 seconds with a brutal right hand-left hook combination that knocked Ribeiro out cold.

Joe Rogan described it as a “sensational” left hook.

Commentator Jon Anik said: “The ‘Mountain Tiger’ putting China on the map in the light heavyweight division.”

Scary truth behind Volk’s ‘old man’ joke

There’s a stat going around that fighters aged 35 and over have won only two out of 33 UFC title fights between the flyweight and welterweight divisions.

It doesn’t bode well for Alex Volkanovski, who is desperate to defend his home turf at featherweight and return to his best form after being knocked out by Islam Makhachev in their lightweight rematch.

Volkanovski took that fight on 11 days’ notice but his preparation is much better this time around with a full training camp under his belt.

The 35-year-old has embraced the age narrative of his matchup against 27-year-old Topuria, adopting a hilarious ‘old man’ persona and rocking up to the pre-fight press conference dressed as a pensioner.

But all jokes aside, does Volk have what it takes to rack up another title defence and prove the old man still has it?

UFC 298 FULL FIGHT CARD

Alexander Volkanovski vs Ilia Topuria — featherweight title (main event)

Robert Whittaker vs Paulo Costa — middleweight (co-main event)

Geoff Neal vs Ian Garry – welterweight

Merab Dvalishvili vs Henry Cejudo — middleweight

Anthony Hernandez vs Roman Kopylov – middleweight

PRELIMS

Amanda Lemos vs Mackenzie Dern — women strawweight

Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs Justin Tafa — heavyweight

Rinya Nakamura vs Carlos Verga — bantamweight

Zhang Mingyang def Brendson Ribeiro via KO (light heavyweight)