Islam Makhachev has been forced to delete a showing his pals feeding quokkas during some downtime ahead of his upcoming world title fight in Australia.
UFC lightweight champion Makhachev is in Perth where he will fight pound-for-pound No.1 and featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in a massive world title clash. And the Russian was spending time taking in the sights when he and teammates visited Rottnes where they posed for photos and cycled around, as well as meeting the quokkas.
As a vulnerable species, it is illegal to feed the rare animals, although many celebrities visiting the area have posed for pictures with them over the years. Any food they haven’t foraged for themselves can harm their bodies, meaning that the only viable nutrition is the food on the island that they collect themselves, and not what humans can provide.
Makhachev has since deleted the pictures showing a teammate of his feeding the quokkas, which is a crime that comes with a $300 (£175) fine. It remains to be seen if Makhachev will face any punishment for the act, which is still visible in the latest episode of UFC's Embedded vlog series.
The Russian can be seen attempting to feed one a piece of a leaf, and when the quokka nibbles around it and doesn't eat, he jokes that it may also be weight as he is for the world title fight. Makhachev will make his usual cut to 155lb for the bout, while Volkanovski is being given a 10lb cushion from his championship weight after moving up from featherweight.
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The Australian will have a home crowd behind him as he returns to Australia for one of the biggest fights in the sport's history. However, he is a massive underdog with odds as high of 5/2, despite never having lost in the UFC and being the No.1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.
“I like it. I’m all good with it,” Volkanovski said on The MMA Hour when asked about his newfound underdog tage. “Especially moving up and the lightweight title and all that type of stuff, and then fighting someone like this. Again, we want this for legacy. I never used to talk like this.
"If you remember, I never talked about legacy fights and all this type of stuff, but now I’m all about it. Now I’m all for the big fights. I love the underdog story. I love being the underdog and people saying I’m undersized and all that type of stuff. It just adds to the story and it’s going to add to the victory."
