'The highlight' has an unparalleled percentage to put on incredible battles when he steps into the octagon and this was no different.
Fight fans still expected an all-out war when Justin Gaethje was matched with Dan Hooker in the Co-Main event of UFC 313 on March 8.
Hooker was out of the fight with a hand injury, was devastating news, but the conversation soon changed to finding a replacement opponent.
Gaethje vs Hooker brought high expectations, but luckily for the return of the Octagon to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the new matchup follows.
Rafael Fiziev called for a rematch with Gaethje and got his wish while the two men decrease their first meeting from UFC 286 in 2023.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty images
Justin Gaethje narrowly came at the top against Rafael Fiziev in a classic
After a win with six fighting at lightweight, Rafael Fiziev had earned the #6 ranking on 155 pounds, but now he was faced with the task of cracking the top five that had been enclosed in their own mini-division for some time.
With the #3-ranking Justin Gaethje who tried to bounce back from his first round entry to Charles Oliveira the year before, he came in as the underdog for this fight.
Despite the first round, and all three rounds, by the way, a closely disputed back and forth striking battle, it was clear that Fiziev had the speed benefit.
'Ataman' unleashed his devastating stairs and shot fast boxing combinations that forced Gaethje to adjust his approach after trying to fight on the outside.
'The highlight' soon realized that his best gamble would put his opponent on the back foot to try to remove part of his stairs and movement.
Both men were very successful with big shots, but when Fiziev started to slow down, the balance started to taster Gaethje somewhat in favor.
In the third round, the former interim light weight champion showed its boxing skills with excellent use of Jabs and Uppercuts to split the right eye of Fiziev and after he had pulled ahead in the last minutes of the fight, Gaethje even landed his first removal in the UFC by 11 fights.
The significant strike figures between them show how close the game was with Fiziev Out Landing Gaethje with 4 strikes in the first round and 5 in the second until 'the highlight' stacked on the pressure in the third, which landed 15 more than the emerging competition.
Although Gaethje won the victory through a majority decision, the score cards also show how narrow the game was like for 15 minutes, with each card different from the others.
In his interview after the fight, Gaethje said that it was not his intention to get into another firefight, along with a joke about the first removal of his UFC career.
“I literally tried not to do that, so the fact that you say it was, again, perfect dance partner, there is no way in which this fight is not exciting. I have my Takedown, everyone can lock up the F – now. “
'The highlight' also took the moment after winning the victory for a British crowd in the O2 -Arena in London with one eye on his exit plan from the sport.
“I take another point in the title, but I will not be around much longer, so I am so happy that you have to enjoy this with me, thanks guys.”
Justin Gaethje knows what to do in the rematch
After he had felt the speed of Rafael Fiziev firsthand, Justin Gaethje now knows that he cannot afford to get a strike-for-trike-kickboxing competition with him where 'Ataman' can dictate the reach.
Both men showed a lot of heart and toughness at UFC 286, but it was the ruthless nature of Gaethje in the future and the landing that eventually started to slow his opponent.
Fiziev is so fast and accurate that it means that you endanger yourself to walk him, but that is not something 'the highlight' has ever returned in the past.
We already know that their styles will cause an exciting fight, but now we get to see which man can make the right adjustments on 8 March.
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