Justin Gaethje understands why other top lightweight contenders could not accept the short notice chance to face him at UFC 313 after Dan Hooker withdrew due to injury, and is thus all the more impressed with Rafael Fiziev for doing so.
The American collegiate wrestler turned all-action mixed martial arts brawler defeated his Azerbaijani rival, a Muay Thai specialist, on March 18th, 2023 at UFC 286 in a fight which was assured to be 'Fight of the Night' from the time it was signed.
The rematch – set to take place ten days shy of two years since the original – will doubtless be a blood-soaked octagonal battle as well.
After agreeing to terms to face Fiziev in the new UFC 313 co-main event, Gaethje took to social media to share his thoughts on the new matchup.
Justin also took the opportunity to attempt to calm fan reactions by saying he understands why other rival lightweights did not take the fight, even defending peers like Arman Tsarukyan in the replies to his tweet and giving some insight into the process of his own grueling weight cut.
With UFC 313 taking place March 8th in Las Vegas, Nevada, that gives Rafael just ten days to go from zero-to-sixty in preparation for one of the toughest fights of his life, made all the more difficult due to this return to the octagon coming after seventeen months out with a torn ACL.
Still, it is a great opportunity for the former farang to potentially jump from his spot at eleventh in the UFC lightweight division all the way to the third position in the rankings with a win, which would put him within spitting distance of the belt.
Fiziev himself took to Twitter to share his respect for his once and future foe, as well as doing a quick Q&A with DAZN to promote the upcoming fight, and say why he thinks this one will be better than the last.
Of course. This is fireworks. Non-stop. Non-stop fireworks, non-stop action. The first fight is maybe the first fight, it's not like if we do it a second time. For sure, I believe if we fight a second time, there's more fireworks, more show. Because we know each other and we've been together in a cage, we know each other a little bit right now. I think it's a more interesting fight.
It will be a tough task to top their terrific fight from UFC 286, but both men get into wars every time out; Gaethje in particular is known for having as many performance bonuses (13) as UFC outings, indicative of constant action-packed fights and a few instances of doubling up on $50,000 bonuses in a single night.
'Ataman' is impressive in that department as well, having gone on a run of six straight bonuses from 2020-2023, coming as a mix of 'Performance' and 'Fight of the Night' wins across five wins and the loss to Gaethje, a streak which only ended due to injury.
Hopefully the time away and expert medical care has served to return Rafael Fiziev to us in top form, because him and Justin Gaethje have the potential to create not just the best fight on the UFC 313 card, but possibly even the best MMA fight of 2025.
(3) Justin Gaethje vs. (11) Rafael Fiziev will take place on March 8th, 2025 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, at UFC 313 as the co-main event to (c) Alex Pereira vs. (1) Magomed Ankalaev for the UFC light-heavyweight title.