Andy Ogle witnessed the same darting figure. This time, though, it didn’t end so violently.
Makwan Amirkhani told Ariel Helwani on a recent edition of The MMA Hour that he chased down two criminals who had stolen beer from his favorite coffee shop last month. The kids gave the alcohol back after Amirkhani caught up to them, but the Finnish star said he was able to procure the goods through polite means.
boys tried to steal some alcohol from our favorite coffee shop. Wrong time and place.
Posted by Makwan Amirkhani on Friday, April 24, 2015
“I said to them, ‘I suggest that you stop,'” Amirkhani said. “I said it in a nice way, so that’s why it became like famous. I didn’t yell or anything. That’s why people liked the video so much. It was in every newspaper and stuff. Because someone acted in a situation like that in a nice way.”
Amirkhani said he and his friend, who is a bodybuilder, were drinking coffee when they heard a female worker shout “stop!” as two boys ran out of the place. Amirkhani took off after them, but only after taking one last sip of his coffee.
“I ran like really fast,” Amirkhani said. “I was like, oh my God, I haven’t [run] this fast in forever.
“It was fun, actually. They just stopped, because I was running so fast. My friend, he was so lazy he took a car.”
Amirkhani, who made his UFC debut by knocking out Ogle with a flying knee in just eight seconds at UFC on FOX 14 in January, said any law enforcement official who couldn’t handle that situation “in a nice way” should not have a job.
“Cops in New York should watch that video and take example,” he said.
Amirkhani (11-2) will actually engage in some fisticuffs with Ultimate Fighter Latin America alum Masio Fullen at UFC Fight Night: Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Jessica Penne on June 20 in Berlin. He is very confident about the matchup and has already begun his training camp at AllStar gym in Stockholm with the likes of Alexander Gustafsson. In fact, Amirkhani has actually moved into the gym, sleeping there at night.
The quirky European developed a fan base in a hurry with his flare for the dramatic in the Octagon and his charisma outside of it. Amirkhani’s Instagram is filled with hijinks, including a video of a game he played with former UFC fighter Reza Madadi which consisted of the two of them holding hands walking down a Stockholm street. The loser of the game was the one who let go first and he had to buy lunch.
The video of the robbery, though, was more practical. Amirkhani, 26, said Sweden is very litigious and he didn’t want either of the kids to say he hit them, spurring a lawsuit. The video served as proof — and also another unique thing to post on social media.
Not that everything about that event was all laughs. Amirkhani was legitimately upset that he and his friend were the only ones to help in what could have been a dangerous situation.
“It annoys me that people didn’t do anything,” Amirkhani said. “They were just standing there.”