It takes a special kind of crazy to want to fight Justin Gaethje — and that’s with a full fight camp. Yet once the door opened to do so on short notice at UFC 313, Rafael Fiziev leaped through it.
This Saturday’s original UFC co-main event in Las Vegas matched all-action lightweights Gaethje and Dan Hooker, however, Hooker broke his hand two weeks out and was forced to withdraw. As soon as Fiziev caught wind of the news, he started to debate back and forth with his manager about stepping in. Although Fiziev heard Gaethje’s side didn’t want the fight — Fiziev assumed the sentiment came from Gaethje’s coach rather than Gaethje himself — he went to the UFC and got his wish.
Now it’s Gaethje vs. Fiziev 2, a sequel to their March 2023 battle that won Fight of the Night at UFC 286.
“This is a miracle for me,” Fiziev said on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “Every time, I have some interview where many people [asked me], ‘You want a rematch? What you think about rematch?’ And I say, ‘No, listen, now I’m far from Justin and this cannot happen because I have to win maybe two [more] fights or more if I want rematch with him, but before [I can do that] maybe he’ll retire or maybe he’ll stop, I don’t know.’ Now? It’s like, wow, a miracle.”
Considering how competitive the pair’s first encounter was, calling a rematch a “miracle” may seem extreme, however, it makes sense from Fiziev’s perspective, as he lost that bout via majority decision.
The 31-year-old “Ataman” hasn’t had the best luck since. After his loss to Gaethje, Fiziev took on Mateusz Gamrot in late 2023 and lost by tearing his ACL in the second round. Fiziev has been sidelined ever since, but revealed he’s actually been physically ready to return for roughly seven to eight months.
The sensational striker is unsure why it took him so long to land a comeback fight, but ultimately he couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to avenge a loss against one of the lightweight division’s best.
“I miss this feeling to go into a fight, all of this situation [with] fight week,” he said. “I more miss, the win. Last time I won [was a] long time ago.
“I want to go and shake the hands of Justin to say, ‘Bro, you give me this chance again, man. I don’t deserve it and you give me this chance.’ Yeah, I know the situation, you have a full camp. You want to fight, you don’t want to pull out from this card. But still, for me, it’s like I want to shake his hand and I think, ‘Bro, you give me this chance again, man. Wow. Thank you so much.'”
Before Fiziev lost to Gaethje, he appeared destined for an eventual UFC title shot, having run through the division to achieve his top-10 status. Six opponents fell to Fiziev during his peak UFC win streak, capped by a fifth-round knockout of former champ Rafael dos Anjos in July 2022 — Fiziev’s last win.
On paper, Fiziev believes his path to victory against Gaethje is clear. He plans to avoid getting drawn into another bloodbath, though admittedly the Kazakh isn’t sure he’ll actually be able follow his brain over his heart once the fists start flying against “The Highlight.”
“Stay far from him and [keep] everything smart, you know?” Fiziev said of his approach. “Everything smart, use my skills. Not going forward for the war. Because last time, I wanted to go to the war, but Justin wanted to do smart [tactics]. That was my mistake.”
