Last year, Justin Gaethje and Rafael Fiziev went to war at UFC 286 in London, England, in a Fight of the Night winner
‘The Highlight’ secured a majority decision win over Fiziev, snapping his six-fight win streak in the process.
During a recent interview, ‘Ataman’ shared his thoughts on the clash, believing that he gave Justin Gaethje his most difficult fight to date. The Muay Thai specialist also pointed to an apparent eye poke as the main reason for his defeat.
The No.8 ranked lightweight contender was recently interviewed by The AllStar, during which he was asked to share his thoughts about Justin Gaethje’s upcoming clash with Max Holloway, set for UFC 300.
He said this:
“If he has a perfect fight against Holloway, and out-classes him or knocks him out, bro. Who gave [Gaethje] a good fight, you know? He ran away from me for two rounds. He ran away! He only started to beat me after the eye poke, because my eye couldn’t see. [There was] a big white circle on my right eye all fight… I didn’t see anything with my right eye. He only fought well after the eye poke, and round three when I started getting tired. But he ran away…”
Listen to Rafael Fiziev recount his loss to Justin Gaethje below from 13:25: