Less than a week after UFC 313, Rafael Fiziev is already thinking about his next step-but in which division will this all-action striking specialist compete below?
Last Saturday, Justin Gaethje Rafael Fiziev defeated a unanimous decision in a back and forth war that rightly earned the 'fight of the night' bonus in Las Vegas.
In the days that followed, 'Ataman' started to wonder if it was finally time to make the switch from lightweight to featherweight; However, not everyone wants to see this popular striker fall into a new division.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
UFC Lightweight Rafael Fiziev told himself to reconsider to reconsider featherweight
Rafael Fiziev, recently speaking on the Ariel Helwani show, revealed that he “starts to think about changing weight distributions”, in particular a fall from 155 pounds to 145 pounds.
“I cut weight very easily this time, and it was in the short term,” explained the 12-4 competition, and added that “I thought about it [featherweight] for a long time because I am not big for [lightweight].
“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.”
While the wider UFC fan base is enthusiastic about the prospect of 'Ataman' who throws at 145 pounds, not everyone agrees that Fiziev should make such a drastic change in this phase of his career.
Former Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling, who made his own division in 2024, is one of those who prefer to stick to Fiziev in his current weight class.
“I told his A -to stay at 155,” wrote Sterling on X in response to a fan who suggested that he welcomed Fiziev in the 145LB scene, and added: “We don't need that chaos at 145. Respectful.”
Sterling is not the only UFC icon that goes to Fiziev to featherweight, where Chael Sonen claims that such a movement would considerably shorten its career.
“Fiziev's down man, he's in the dumps, he feels the post-fight blues and he is talking about changing weight classes and I don't think it's great,” Sonen said in a video on his YouTube.
“That is not a great idea, the years of your career and when the entire career is done, the only thing that really is the money and the kilometers … You will shorten your career by going to 145 pounds and historically you can't find me if that has worked.”
Who could fight Rafael Fiziev in his UFC Feather Waarde debut?
Only a few days after that PPV-Co-Main event went to Instagram to share a photo of him alongside UFC matchmaker Hunter Campbell with the caption “Good news soon”.
Should that 'good news' be related to his precipitation to featherweight, who are the potential opponents who can welcome 'Ataman' to the division?
Well, with Alexander Volkanovski (1) and Diego Lopes (3) set to dispute the vacant title next month, and Max Holloway (2) up to lightweight, would be the next top-ranking Movsar Evloev (4).
The Russian is 19-0, after he has surpassed Aljamain Sterling in his last fight, but is generally expected to sit outside and wait to fight the winner of Volkanovski vs Lopes; Planned for the UFC 314 main event.
Yair Rodriguez (5) stands for UFC newcomer Patricio Pitbull on the same map, while Josh Emmett (8) and Lerone Murphy (10) on March 22 Throwdown.
That leaves us with only two potential top 10 -arranged opponents for Fiziev; Brian Ortega (6) and Arnold Allen (7) – both wait until their next fight is booked.
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