UFC featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski received special permission from the Australian Border Force to travel to Fight Island for UFC 251. Volkanovski and his team were required to spend two weeks isolating on either side of the journey. So now, the family man is not is returning in triumph to the arms of his wife and children, after successfully defending his title for the first time with a Split Decision in the immediate rematch vs. Max Holloway.

Hours after the win Volkanovski was shuttled to Abu Dhabi Airport, where he boarded a plane back to Australia. And now he’s unable to see his family during the two-week isolation period.

“I want to be at home with the family celebrating, and I obviously miss them,” he said. “I win the world title one day and the next day I’m daddy — that’s just who I am.”

“I know this needs to be done so I’ll just get through the two weeks, then I’ll be back with my family. There’s a lot of pros and cons in this Fight Island process, but I believe the pros outweigh the cons.”

Volkanovski also said he’s got no interest in an immediate third fight between the pair.

“People will say how close it was or they thought he won — well, he didn’t,” said Volkanovski. I won the fight and I’ve now won twice in a row against Max. Having a third fight now is just silly.”

“If you look at the official stats, the numbers were very even in the first two rounds. But he landed the big shots and I went down, so you know he’s got those rounds. We knew it was close and could go either way, but we were confident we won the last three rounds.”

“I have that much respect that I gave him the rematch when I probably didn’t have to. If there was ever going to be a day for Max Holloway, it was that day.”

h/t Timothy Fernandez for ABC.net.au