- Mateusz Gamrot suggests that he may caused Rafael Fiziev’s knee injury at UFC Vegas 79
- “Gamer” called out Charles Oliveira to test his grappling skills
Mateusz Gamrot secured a TKO win over Rafael Fiziev at UFC Vegas 79 but it’s not how he expected it to play out. The fight was stopped after “Ataman” suffered a knee injury and “Gamer” thinks he may have caused it to happen. Gamrot is now moving on and is eyeing a showdown with Charles Oliveira.
It could be the kicks
Speaking to the media in his post-fight presser, Gamrot said that even though Fiziev appeared to have hurt himself after throwing a kick, it could be that one of his kicks prior was what caused “Ataman’s” knee to snap.
“This was unfortunate situation. Nobody know what’s happened in the cage but two things, first thing: win is win like, we are sportsmen but another one is sometimes if you have camp, you prepare attack, you prepare kicks, you prepare punch but also I prepare my defense, these kicks, because I know that Rafa will be kicking a lot, his punch is really strong and my camp, I prepare my really good defense and maybe these things [are why] he got injury you know. Nobody know,” Gamrot suggested.
Mateusz wants Charles
Gamrot doesn’t want to dwell on the unfortunate incident and would like to focus on what’s next for him. The win over Fiziev saw “Gamer” completing back-to-back wins and it is likely to move him up from No. 7 to No. 6 in the UFC lightweight rankings.
Everybody else in the Top 5 has already faced Charles Oliveira and Gamrot thinks it would make sense if he faces “do Bronx” next as he has been looking forward to putting his ground game to the test.
“I would like to test myself against Charles Oliveira because he is the most dangerous guy on the ground. My previous opponents, every time [they fight] stand up, stand up, and the ground is hot for everybody. But the next one, I would like to challenge myself on the ground,” Gamrot explained.
“I want to show my really good skills in jiu-jitsu. I want to show how good I am on the ground. I think this guy will be the first guy in my career who will want to fight with me on the ground… I know [Oliveira] has a fight soon next month with the champ,” he added. “My prediction — the result will be the same as last time, that Islam defends his belt. I can wait for Charles Oliveira until next year, maybe March, maybe May, we will be ready for him.”
Prior to Fiziev, Gamrot beat Jalin Turner via split decision by relying on his wrestling. He now wants to see if he could kick it up a notch by calling out Oliveira. On the other hand, Fiziev is now on a two-fight losing streak, having lost to Justin Gaethje prior at UFC 286.
Check out Gamrot’s full press conference below:
