- Rafael Fiziev is eyeing a fight against Justin Gaethje to get closer to the title
- Fiziev revealed his picks for two of the most exciting matches ahead
Coming off an impressive knockout win over Rafael dos Anjos, Fiziev is looking to make the right moves to get closer to the title. With the announcement of a highly anticipated fight between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev, “Ataman” talked about who he believes would be the champion by the time he gets his shot.
Fiziev also revealed his pick for Nate Diaz’s return to fighting against the rising Khamzat Chimaev.
Rafael Fiziev hopes to get a title shot with a win over Justin Gaethje
In an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Rafael Fiziev expressed his hopes to get in the title contention if he gets his dream matchup with Gaethje and dispatches him.
“If he don’t fight with me, with who is he going to fight? With Dariush or Gamrot? This is not good match for him. For him, good match is with me now because he’s a stand-up fighter, he likes to fight, I like to fight… potentially it’s a fight of the year, this kind of fight, stylistically it’s fan-friendly so why not?”
When asked whether he believes he’s about two fights away from getting a shot at the title, Fiziev answered in affirmative.
“Yeah, man. I hope I win against Gaethje and after the win, I’ll be really really close for this.”
Fiziev reveals his picks for Oliveira-Islam & Chimaev-Diaz
Fiziev has backed Makhachev to come out on top over Oliveira.
“I think Makhachev wins because he has good control on the top. He has more chance but we’ll see.”
Talking about the upcoming bout between Chimaev and Diaz, Fiziev believes “Borz” will get the job done
“I think Chimaev.”
While Fiziev was brief in his picks, it’s hard to argue his reasoning considering both of his choices are the favorites with Chimaev opening as a massive -1100 favorite over the grizzled veteran Diaz.
