The UFC featherweight king and his iconic championship rival found themselves cornering against each other on the UFC 312: Du Plessis vs Strickland 2 prelims.
Hometown hero Alexander Volkanovski was in the corner of long-time teammate Colby Thicknesse, whilst Ilia Topuria was there to support his older brother Aleksandre Topuria.
Whilst the Spanish-Georgian siblings ultimately walked away with a unanimous decision win, the former title foes held no resentment towards one another – with UFC cameras catching what happened when they met backstage.
Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria share wholesome post-UFC 312 moment
After getting his hand raised over Colby Thicknesse, the now 6-1 Aleksandre Topuria would show respect to both his UFC 312 opponent and to Volkanovski for the way he’d conducted himself during Fight Week.
“Colby’s shown me a great fight, he’s a great rival and I think this guy deserves a UFC contract,” Aleksandre told Daniel Cormier in the octagon.
That showing of respect extended to his younger brother, with UFC cameras capturing footage of the moment Ilia Topuria and Alexander Volkanovski came face-to-face backstage after the fight.
The featherweight superstars can be seen embracing and exchanging a brief word before Volkanovski rushed back over to remind Topuria of the promise he made to him last year.
“We still gotta do the Cookin’ – Cookin’ With Volk!” laughed the former champion, adding that it was on Topuria to “bring the wine.”
Volkanovski and Topuria are expected to rematch later this year, although ‘El Matador’ has teased that he’s ready to move up and challenge Islam Makhachev for the 155lb throne.
Aleksandre Topuria on his brother’s competitive rivalry with Volkanovski
At the post-fight press conference, Aleksandre Topuria would again show respect to Volkanovski, before addressing how he felt about his brother’s rivalry being such a critical story of Fight Week.
“Once the cage closed, it’s not Ilia vs Alexander Volkanovski, that’s a big rivalry for sure but if they’re not fighting, we’re chill – nothing but respect.
“If there was some bad blood then okay, I understand but there’s no bad blood, at least this time there was not – so when they were asking me about the rivalry, it was like ‘You don’t understand.’”
The 6-1 bantamweight acknowledged that the storyline brought more eyes and attention to his fight with Thicknesse, but now that their fight was over, there’s “nothing but respect” left between them.
“I understand that there’s a little bit more hype because it’s Ilia vs Volkanovski [again] and this is good, but for me, this is not rivalry… Nothing but respect, everything’s good.
“I always show respect to Alexander Volkanovski, it doesn’t matter if they fight or not. I know this guy works hard, he’s a great father, a great man, great countryman, he represents very good – what can I say, he made my brother bigger, and he make me bigger. Nothing but respect.”