Islam Makhachev sent presents to Alex Volkanovski’s family after the now-former champ revealed his daughter was wary of a break-in.
Earlier in the week, Volkanovski shared a story of his daughter jokingly fearing a break-in and only after being reassured their home was defended by a pound-for-pound great, questioned what would happen just in case it turned out to be Islam Makhachev.
“I guess Islam must have felt a little bit bad,” as the lightweight champion appeared to have sent a toy gift to Volkanovski’s family ahead of his featherweight world title fight against Ilia Topuria at UFC 298.
Unfortunately for the Australian, just a few hours later the surging Topuria had scored a brutal second-round knockout to claim the world championship belt in Saturday’s main event.
‘Good guy’ Makhachev sends presents after viral story
In the hours leading up to Volkanovski’s featherweight title fight, the Australian appeared in a video posted to social media sharing that he had received a heartwarming present from the man who defeated him twice in 2023.
“He’s obviously a good human being, Islam, so I appreciate that but yeah it was all good fun, she’s obviously not terrified of that, but she was just stirring me up. It was a funny story and thank you for that, it means a lot.”
Only a few days before, Volkanovski shared that his daughter had the same sense of humor as the featherweight icon; trying to get out of going to sleep by jokingly questioning what would happen if Islam Makhachev was the one who broke into their home.
The video of Makhachev’s surprise gift appeared online a few hours before Volkanovski’s featherweight title reign came to an end at the hands of the now 15-0 Topuria.
Volkanovski had been exchanging heavy leg kicks for Topuria’s headhunting in the opening round, with the Australian’s slightly higher output giving him the edge going into the second.
Yet Topuria proved good on his words from throughout fight week, eventually finding the right angle and delivering a brutal KO via punches that left the former champ ‘crumbled’ on the canvas for several worrying seconds.
Volkanovski called for a rematch in the post-fight interview and said a UFC Spain event could be in the picture.
However, after back-to-back KO defeats, many within the community are calling for a longer recovery period than the one following the KO loss to Makhachev just a few months prior.