When he was in his 20s, Rafael Fiziev was running in the tall clover. He’d won six straight fights (with five performance bonuses), and was building a head of steam toward a lightweight title shot when the UFC did him the courtesy of matching him against Justin Gaethje at UFC 286.
With Gaethje having lost two of his last three, this was meant to be a catapult for Fiziev. A win would have thrown him into the upper reaches of the division. To borrow from the world of pro wrestling, it was the moment Fiziev was supposed to get over.
It didn’t work out like that. Fiziev, who turned 30 just a week before that first Gaethje encounter, came away looking like the lone survivor of a slasher film. His face was a proverbial crimson mask. There were gashes above and under his eyes. His nose was purple. He found out firsthand what it means to visit the Gaethje wheelhouse, an experience he would reprise two years later at UFC 313, with a loss to Mateusz Gamrot sandwiched in between.
Now at 32, he gets another crack at it when he fights Ignacio Bahamondes at Saturday’s UFC on ABC event in Baku, Azerbaijan. It’s his chance to build back up to where he was before all the trouble began.
“Yes, I left three fights,” Fiziev says. “I lost that first fight with Justin. The second fight [against Gamrot], I have injury. I just hurt my knee, the ligaments in my knee, I couldn’t do anything with this. My knee is done. Then the third fight with Justin is short notice, one week notice, because [before that] I cannot find the fighter who wants to fight me, who can say yes against me.
“So yeah, sad for the three losses, but this is not like somebody knocked me out three times. I have three [losses], I have two bonuses, and the fight with Gamrot, where I cannot do anything because my body just … ”
Here Fiziev can’t help but shrug, as perhaps he better than anybody understands the chaotic elements of fighting. He can’t make things in the rearview mirror appear closer to him than is altogether necessary.
“I understand,” he says. “I am a strong guy. I have a good striking, I have a good wrestling, and I have a big heart. I really love this. I’m enjoying when I’m fighting and yeah, [these] three [losses] is nothing for me.”
There was a time when Fiziev felt somewhat inevitable as a title contender at 155 pounds. The beating he put on Renato Moicano might’ve been the first to turn some heads, but the crisp boxing that overwhelmed Brad Riddell before a spinning wheel kick put him away felt like a declaration that Fiziev was coming. He was a perfect example of a fighter who blended superior technique with a brawler’s mentality, which adds up to a fun viewing experience.
And he was taking it to Gaethje in that first fight, too. The fight was a back-and-forth war that ended in a majority decision in Gaethje’s favor. Part of what has made Fiziev must-see TV is that at times he can throw caution to the wind, a feast or famine approach which has ultimately cost him on his recent slide.
“I have a big ego,” Fiziev says. “I always want to show myself. I always want to show for myself and the beauty. And I love this business so much and I know when I watch a fight, I want to watch a good fight. I don’t want a boring fight. I don’t like when fighters stay [a] long time, and fighters don’t risk so much. I don’t like it so much when I watch those fights.
“So when I go to the cage, what I don’t like I try avoid in my fights. And also, I love it. I just love it. When I go to the cage, I really love it. I’ve felt like that since 11 years old, and I think I have these bonuses and all of this, all the things people [are] saying, I think it’s just because I have loved it. I really love it, and I want to show myself to people how much I love the fight.”
If circumstances haven’t exactly been on Fiziev’s side since that first Gaethje encounter, that appears to be about to change this weekend on the UFC’s first visit to Azerbaijan, the country Fiziev represents.
This is a tailor-made event for Fiziev, and it’s a big one that’s airing live on ABC in the U.S. As a kind of modern-day nomad who has spent time training at Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket, Thailand, he was born in Kazakhstan and spent much of his childhood in Kyrgyzstan. This is a part of the world that wants to see a UFC belt of its own reflecting off the Caspian Sea.
But the situation this time around is also a little different.
This time it’s Fiziev who is in desperate need of a victory if he hopes to stay in proximity to that title. And it’s the 27-year-old Bahamondes who arrives with the idea of stealing his capital as a contender. The crowd at the Baku Crystal Hall will be on Fiziev’s side. Friends and family will be in attendance. The roof will come off the place if he starches Bahamondes the way he did Rafael Dos Anjos in his last victory.
There’s a lot riding on a single fight, but then there always is.
“I’m really excited — I really like this because I’m going to fight front of my people in my homeland and all of my people can watch me live in real life,” Fiziev says. “In Azerbaijan we have support for each other. We in Azerbaijan love to support each other and I can’t wait to fight front of my people.”
As for the pressure that comes with fighting in front of your countrymen?
“Many people, many families, friends, they want to meet me, they want to hang out with me,” he says. “They want have some time with me, but I tell everybody like, ‘Hey guys, look, I’m here on the fight. I have to stay in my room with my team, do what I have to do.’
“So no, no pressure, no pressure [from that] at all, because just being fighters comes with pressure. I just tell myself what I’m feeling, but I think many fighters do agree with me — we have pressure only about one thing: We don’t want to lose. But all the other things, it’s second, third, fourth. So I don’t want a loss. I want to show a good fight and I don’t want to lose.”