Rafael Fiziev knows Justin Gaethje as well as anyone, and he didn’t like what he saw from the future Hall of Famer at UFC 324.
Twice Fiziev and Gaethje have shared the octagon, with Gaethje winning a majority decision in their first meeting at UFC 286 in March 2023 and then earning a five-round unanimous decision over Gaethje at UFC 313 this past March. Both times, the rivals won Fight of the Night, an award Gaethje captured again this past Saturday when he beat Paddy Pimblett for an interim lightweight
title.
However, the exciting bout has been met with some criticism due to its supposed sloppiness, and Fiziev agrees that Gaethje might not have been at his best. He addressed his issues with Gaethje’s performance at media day for UFC 325 on Wednesday.
“It was a good fight,” Fiziev said. “I’m happy for Justin and I’m surprised how he’s not in shape in this fight because in the first round he started this fight very slow. He’s very slow, he looked like he’s sick, not in shape. I think if he’s going to be in the same shape like when he fought me in London, he’s going to finish Paddy in the first two rounds. I don’t think he was really 100 percent shape in this fight. I’ve seen his neck, maybe a staph infection, looked like.
“And Paddy, he made me surprised. His head is really strong.”
Gaethje’s win sets him up for a unification bout with undisputed lightweight champion Ilia Topuria, currently on hiatus as he deals with issues in his personal life. The matchup is not official, though speculative odds already have the undefeated Topuria placed as a massive favorite.
Fiziev is concerned that Gaethje, famous for a career full of back-and-forth standup wars, could be in for a rough night if he goes head to head with “El Matador.”
“I don’t want this fight, honestly,” Fiziev said of a Topuria-Gaethje matchup. “Because he’s almost 38 years old now and if we look at how he was in shape in [the Pimblett] fight, he looked not so good. Fight against Ilia is standup, not wrestle, boxing, boxing, boxing, that’s dangerous for [Gaethje]. Very dangerous for him. Ilia, he can turn off the lights very easily, but it’s MMA, I know.
“I understand it’s MMA, everything can change every second, but still, for Justin, honestly I don’t want to see this fight.”
Up next for Fiziev, he fights Mauricio Ruffy this Saturday on the main card of UFC 325 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.
