'Greatest Champion': Islam Makhachev Shares 'Comeback' Message For Alexander Volkanovski, Congratulates Ilia Topuria

‘greatest champion’: islam makhachev shares ‘comeback’ message for alexander volkanovski, congratulates ilia topuria

In one of the battles for the ages, Ilia Topuria ousted Alexander Volkanovski, knocking out the reigning Featherweight division champion to crown himself as the new FW champion. Meanwhile, the current UFC Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev hailed Volkanovski as the ‘greatest champion’ in the featherweight division, while also congratulating the newly crowned Topuria.

Keeping his undefeated run in the UFC going, Ilia needed just three minutes and 32 seconds to knock out Alexander and end the contest resulting in a memorable win for ‘El Matador’. The Georgian-Spanish fighter started in the backseat a little, Volkanovski was strong early but got caught with a crushing right hand that ended the fight at 3:32 of the second round.

It was a second consecutive knockout blow for Volkanovski, who had lost to Makhachev in October in a fight that finished in the first round itself.

Despite the heated faceoff, there was no love lost between Islam and Alexander as the former sent out a strong ‘comeback’ message for the 35-year-old.

“Alex is undeniably one of the greatest champion in the FW division. Keep your head up and come back strong!” wrote Islam Makhachev on social media platform X shortly after the UFC 298 main event.

He added, “Congrats to new champ Topuria, well done биджо.”

Here are some other notable reactions from the UFC fraternity after Topuria knocked out Volkanovski:

Before the main event of the night, as Robert Whittaker defeated Paulo Costa to bounce back in what proved to be the second-best fight of the night. Whittaker ended up landing crisp combos defeating Costa by a unanimous decision, whereas Ian Machado Garry prevailed over Geoff Neal.

Former flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo tried his best but couldn’t avoid a miraculous comeback from Merab Dvalishvili who again prevailed with a unanimous decision.