Volkanovski Confirms Dagestan Trip to Cook With Islam Makhachev
Alexander Volkanovski has confirmed he still intends to travel to Dagestan to cook with Islam Makhachev, putting a firmer stamp on a reunion that started as a joke and is now being treated as a real plan. The UFC featherweight champion said the catch-up is coming, even as he prepares to defend his title.
Speaking with Main Event’s Niko Pajarillo at Freestyle MMA, Volkanovski did not leave much room for doubt. The Australian was sitting on the mats in a gym interview that also promoted his Oct. 24 title fight at UFC 333.
“We will definitely catch up. Yea, 100% that’s going to happen…”
The comment lands weeks after Makhachev invited him over during a joint Main Event sit-down. What began as talk about a Cooking With Volk episode turned into a full Dagestan itinerary that included food, hunting, and time at Makhachev’s camp.
Volkanovski first floated a short visit. Makhachev immediately pushed it out to two or three weeks.
“Two, three days is not enough,” Makhachev told him. “You have to stay at least two, three weeks.”
The welterweight champion also wanted Volk’s kitchen crew involved. He asked the Australian to bring his nutrition team and cook during fight week, saying his own camp food comes with no salt, no pepper, and is hard to eat.
That cooking hook fits Volkanovski’s public brand as much as it fits Makhachev’s home. Volk has built a second audience through Cooking With Volk, and the pair already spent years needling each other in the lead-up to two title fights.
Those fights did not go Australia’s way. Makhachev won a close decision at UFC 284 in Perth, then stopped Volkanovski with a head kick in their UFC 294 rematch after Volk took the bout on short notice.
The relationship looks different now. Makhachev is the UFC welterweight champion at 29-1, the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and the owner of a 17-fight UFC winning streak after his unanimous decision over Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330. Volkanovski is back on top at 145 pounds, sitting 28-4 overall and No. 2 pound-for-pound.
Volk reclaimed the featherweight title and then defended it against Diego Lopes by unanimous decision at UFC 325 in Sydney on Feb. 1. He next meets undefeated No. 1 contender Movsar Evloev in the UFC 333 main event at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
Evloev is 20-0 as a professional and 10-0 inside the UFC, with his most recent win a majority decision over Lerone Murphy in London. The matchup is the one Volkanovski had been asking for, and it is a wrestling-heavy test that makes any long trip to the Caucasus a timing issue rather than a simple vacation.
Makhachev has already picked a side for that fight. The Dagestani star recently said Volkanovski is not at the same peak he was a couple of years ago and that he hopes Evloev gets the job done.
That prediction does not cancel the invitation. In the original sit-down, Makhachev talked about going to the mountains, hunting deer, cooking steaks, riding horses, and showing people what Dagestan is actually like if high-level athletes come train there.
Volkanovski bought in on camera then, too. He said he had already talked it over with his team and that he was coming for training, hunting, and, if possible, fishing.
The latest clip is the follow-through. It does not announce a date, a flight, or a training block before UFC 333, and it should not be read as Volk packing for camp in Makhachev’s gym this week.
What it does confirm is the social piece of the offer. The featherweight champion is telling Main Event that he and Makhachev will get together, that cooking is part of it, and that the Dagestan visit is no longer just fight-week banter.
For now, the Octagon comes first. Volkanovski has a title defense against Evloev on Oct. 24, and any two-to-three-week stay in Dagestan would have to come after that fight or in a window that does not interrupt camp.
If he gets through Abu Dhabi healthy, the next chapter with Makhachev may not be another five-round war. It may be a kitchen, a mountain, and two former title rivals finally sharing a meal on Islam’s turf.