Rafael Fiziev accused Justin Gaethje of running away during their entertaining clash at UFC 286 last year.
Riding a six-fight win streak, ‘Ataman’ was primed for a potential UFC title opportunity. All he had to do was get through one of the division’s most dangerous competitors, Justin Gaethje. After three rounds of action, ‘The Highlight’ was dubbed the winner via a majority decision, dashing Fiziev’s championship aspirations for the time being.
Looking back on the bout during an interview with John Hyon Ko of The Allstar, Fiziev claimed that Gaethje spent the majority of the bout running away and ultimately came out on top due to an unintentional eye poke that affected Fiziev’s vision.
“He ran away from me for two rounds!” Fiziev said. “He started to (beat) me only after eye poke, because my eye (couldn’t) see anything. There was a big white circle on my right eye all fight. I didn’t see anything with my right eye. He fought only good after the eye poke and round three when I started to tire.
“But he ran away two rounds. He run, run, run,” Fiziev continued. “Yeah, maybe my gameplan was sh*t and I did a lot of sh*t in this fight; didn’t listen to my corner, didn’t follow my gameplan. But still, he ran away for two rounds.”
Responding to Fiziev’s comments on social media, Gaethje suggested that he may have hit the Kazakhstani so hard that he forgot the details of the fight.
“Not a good look here,” Gaethje wrote in response on X. “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
Justin Gaethje Puts His BMF Title on the Line at UFC 300
Rafael Fiziev failed to get back into the win column in his follow-up fight after suffering a leg injury in the second round of a September 2023 meeting with Mateusz Gamrot.
Justin Gaethje, on the other hand, went on to score a highlight-reel second-round head kick KO against Dustin Poirier in a rematch five years in the making. The victory not only earned Gaethje the BMF title but also put him in line for a lightweight championship clash with reigning 155-pound king Islam Makhachev.
But first, Gaethje will put the promotion’s bragging-rights belt on the line at UFC 300 when he meets former featherweight champ and fellow fan favorite Max Holloway.
Watch the full interview below:
