UFC Lightweight Competier Rafael Fiziev is considering an important change after the fall of Justin Gaethje on UFC 313.
Rafael Fiziev's Short-Notice Rematch with Justin Gaethje delivered with an epic 'Fight of the Night' on UFC 313 last Saturday in Las Vegas. But while Fiziev walked away with a lucrative bonus after the fight, he shortened the jury's scorecards and fell to Gaethje through a unanimous decision.
It was a closely disputed fight from start to finish, and some viewers scored the fight in favor of Fiziev. But after falling on 0-2 against Gaethje, the path from Fiziev to a potential title shot is further delayed.
Apart from his two losses to Gaethje, Fiziev has been on a role in the lightweight division since his promotion debut. He is one of the most dangerous strikers of the division and is a matchup headache for the top candidates.
Despite the placement of Fiziev in the lightweight ranking, he is considering a new start on this point in his MMA trip.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Rafael Fiziev reveals that UFC 313 was the easiest weight reduction of his career despite the notice period of weeks.
During a recent interview about the Ariel Helwani show, Fiziev revealed a big change that he wants to make in this next chapter of his UFC career.
“I am starting to think about changing weight distributions, because this time I cut weight very easily, and it was on short-notice,” Fiziev said. “The whole week my nutritionist tried to arrive at me to arrive because I cut it so quickly … At the moment I think I should think about it.
'I thought about it [featherweight] For a long time, because I am not big for [lightweight]'Fiziev continued. “I want to fight with the top boys, and all these guys in the top 10, they are very interesting. But man, these guys will have problems when I get there. '
Despite recent lightweight, Fiziev's comments come against people like Rafael Dos Anjos, Brad Riddell and Bobby Green. If the UFC 313 scorecards had taken a different direction, Fiziev would have made a strong case for a title shot.
If Fiziev is serious about a switch to featherweight, he will try to learn from fellow light weight than hooker's skewed stint on £ 145. Hooker went to featherweight for a collision with Arnold Allen and lost through TKO.
Rafael Fiziev would help to add Starpower after the departure of Ilia Topuria
The addition of Fiziev to the Feedweight Division would help replace part of the lost Starpower of the switch from Ilia Topuria to lightweight. Topuria announced, after switching off Max Holloway on UFC 308, a switch to lightweight and could possibly be the next enemy of Islam Makhakev.
After the departure of Holloway and Topuria, Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes will collide for the empty title on UFC 314. The winner would probably meet the undefeated Movsar Evloev for their first title defense.
Fiziev could possibly jump in the line if he achieves a victory at a top featherweight such as Evloev, Brian Ortega or Arnold Allen. Patricio Pitbull and Yair Rodriguez will collide at UFC 314, with a potential title shot on the line for the winner.
Fiziev did not fight against featherweight in his career, and a decrease to 145 pounds would probably be more difficult than he expected. But after the Gaethje fight, the stock of Fiziev remains high and he would be a dark horse in the featherweight division.
Comments