Rafael Fiziev believes that he had Justin Gaethje running for the first two rounds of their clash at UFC 286.
In the co-main event of UFC 286 in London, ‘Ataman’ and ‘The Highlight’ engaged in a lightweight slobber knocker, with Fiziev being the aggressor and Gaethje battering him on counters to win by a majority decision.
Almost a year following their showdown, Fiziev discredited Gaethje’s victory by alleging that an eye poke shifted the fight in his favor.
“[Gaethje] ran away from me for 2 rounds,” Fiziev said. “He started to win only after an eye poke because my eye couldn’t see anything. I couldn’t see anything with my right eye. He fought good only after the eye poke and round 3 when I started to get tired.”
The first two rounds of the fight between the two electrifying lightweights were super close in terms of strikes landed, but Gaethje dominated the final round with 54 significant strikes to Fiziev’s 38. Majority of MMA fans also scored the fight in the American’s favor, which is why the Kyrgyzstani’s comments have rubbed him the wrong way.
Gaethje took to Twitter and slammed Fiziev for trying to misguide fans.
“Not a good look here. I hit him so hard he forgot which eye got poked. Your right eye got torched by my right-hand kid.”
Not a good look here. I hit him so hard he forgot which eye got poked. Your right eye got torched by my right hand kid. https://t.co/43alvo2m6R
— Justin Gaethje 🇺🇸 (@Justin_Gaethje) January 31, 2024
In his most recent fight, Justin Gaethje secured the BMF title with a second-round knockout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 291. He is now preparing to defend his title against Max Holloway at UFC 300.
As for Fiziev, he faced a setback in his recent bout against Mateusz Gamrot in September last year, where he suffered a knee injury.
What do you make of these comments?
