Aussie UFC star Alex Volkanovski reveals the hilarious way his little daughter trolled him about one of the worst losses in his career

Australian UFC star Alex Volkanovski has shared a story with the Sydney Swans about how one of his daughters hilariously trolled him over one of the darkest moments of his career.

Volkanovski, 35, is coming off two of the toughest fights off his life after losing his featherweight strap to Ilia Topuria in February and suffering a brutal knockout to Islam Makhachev last October.

His devastating loss to lightweight king Makhachev really took its toll on the Aussie, with fans and pundits expressing concern about his mental well-being afterwards.

In a recent episode of Sydney Swans podcast More Than Footy, Volkanovski explained his eldest daughter’s hilarious reaction while he was trying to get her to go to bed one night.

‘I’m like, ‘What are you scared of darling, I’m right here. Relax. It’s all right.” said Volkanovski.

‘She’s like, ‘I’m close to a window – what if they come through the window?’

‘I go, ‘darling, I’m gonna hear the window, it’s all right…”

‘So, I was the world champ at the time, too. I go, ‘Darling, I’m a world champ. I think I’m gonna be alright. I think I can sort out this situation.

‘And the she goes, ‘What if it’s Islam Makachev?’ and just shuts me down!’

Volkanovski is the proud father of three little girls with Emma, who he married on October 12, 2012. The pair are high school sweethearts and have been together for around 19 years.

The Volkanovskis welcomed eldest daughter Ariana in 2015 and second child Arlie in in 2017 and third daughter Reign in 2023.

The UFC star’s relationship with his family has been a key to his UFC success,  but he’s also been honest about some of the mental health struggles he struggles with when he’s not training hard.

After his loss to Makhachev he fought back tears when talking about the pressure he had been under.

‘It is hard. It really is hard for athletes. I never thought I’d struggle with it but for some reason when I wasn’t fighting or in camp…’ Volkanovski said.

‘It (not being in camp) was just doing my head in. So when this opportunity came up, I’ll be honest I wasn’t training as much as I should’ve but I thought I had to take it.

‘I’m telling myself that it was meant to be. I was struggling a little bit not fighting, it was doing my head in. I don’t know how, I’ve got a beautiful family. I think you just need to keep busy … I’ll leave it at that.’

A few days later, Volkanovski took to his YouTube channel to explain himself in more detail.

‘Me and my wife, we’re great, we’ve got a beautiful family, we’re all good, I want everyone to know that. I don’t want everyone thinking that. It’s not like that,’ Volkanovski said.

‘It was just me trying to deal with being a high-performance athlete and not being able to fulfil that side of things, especially the last few months.

‘When I’m in camp there’s a specific direction, I know exactly what’s happening. It’s easy. I’m still very present at home, I’m my most happiest, I’m probably an even better dad when I’m in camp because I’m ticking all the boxes.

‘But it was harder to do that the last few weeks with everyone that it was happening. It was more just the timing, that’s why you see me a little bit more vulnerable in the press conference after getting knocked out.’