Top-15 UFC lightweight contender, Rafael Fiziev is sure to leapfrog former training partner, Brad Riddell upon the release of the updated reankings next week — following a massive third round wheel kick in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 44. Expected to provide fireworks from the onset and throughout, former Tiger Muay Thai sparring partners, […]
Top-15 UFC lightweight contender, Rafael Fiziev is sure to leapfrog former training partner, Brad Riddell upon the release of the updated reankings next week — following a massive third round wheel kick in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 44.
Expected to provide fireworks from the onset and throughout, former Tiger Muay Thai sparring partners, Riddell and Fiziev obliged each other immediately — with the two exchanging sharp strikes inside the pocket during each exchange.
Slipping Riddell with a beautifully timed elbow in the middle of the second round, Fiziev began to really find his range with countering and winging hooks in the pocket as Riddell managed to find himself on top following two well-timed takedown attempts.
Rafael Fiziev stops former sparring partner Brad Riddell with a highlight-reel wheel kick
Removing the judges from the equation in a relatively close fight, Fiziev launched a picture-perfect wheel kick as Riddell circled beside the Octagon fence, clipping him flush resulting his in his fifth consecutive victory.
Below, catch the highlights from Rafael Fiziev’s wheel kick knockout win over Brad Riddell.
Brad Riddell vs. Rafael Fiziev was a solid co-headliner with a special finish.
The two fighters met in a bout on Saturday night (December 4) at the UFC Vegas 44 event from Las Vegas, Nevada at the UFC Apex facility..
The first round had a …
Brad Riddell vs. Rafael Fiziev was a solid co-headliner with a special finish.
The two fighters met in a bout on Saturday night (December 4) at the UFC Vegas 44 event from Las Vegas, Nevada at the UFC Apex facility..
The first round had a slow start with Riddell being various cautious and not throwing a lot of volume although he was landing some leg kicks. However, Riddell did get in a nice combo to end the frame. They started to let their hands go in the second round. Brad had a cut under right eye and was bleeding from his left temple. Riddell got the brief takedown in the third round, but let him back up. Fiziev finished the fight with a wheel kick.
Peep the highlights of the fight courtesy of the UFC’s official Twitter account:
Riddell entered this fight on a six-fight winning streak with his promotional debut going down at the UFC 243 pay-per-view event where he picked up a decision win over Jamie Mullarkey.
Fiziev entered the fight with a pro-MMA record of 10-1 and was riding a four-fight winning streak including his most recent win over Bobby Green by decision at UFC 265.
Let’s see how the fighters reacted to the outcome of this fight:
UFC lightweight Rafael Fiziev knows his upcoming fight with Brad Riddell is crucial in securing a bumper new contract in 2022.
Fiziev, who currently sits at #14 in the 155-pound rankings, is currently on a four-fight winning streak in MMA’s leading…
UFC lightweight Rafael Fiziev knows his upcoming fight with Brad Riddell is crucial in securing a bumper new contract in 2022.
Fiziev, who currently sits at #14 in the 155-pound rankings, is currently on a four-fight winning streak in MMA’s leading promotion. Since a debut spinning back kick loss to Magomed Mustafaev in 2019, the Kazakhstani-born Kyrgyzstani has outpointed Alex White and Marc Diakiese, and brutally knocked out former hot prospect Renato Moicano. Most recently, “Ataman” emerged victorious over veteran Bobby Green in a Fight of the Night clash at UFC 265.
In an exclusive interview with MMA News, Fiziev revealed that his upcoming contest with “Quake” is the penultimate bout on his current four-fight UFC deal. With that in mind, and the usual scenario of re-negotiating with the promotion ahead of the final fight, the 28-year-old is aware of what’s at stake come December 4.
“For sure (it’s a big fight). Because I need to win this fight if I want like, if I want a good contract, a good next contract, and go up, take some top-10 (opponents) and start to be (on) the road to the belt, I need to win this fight, for sure. This is (a) big fight for my career.”
Fiziev Didn’t Want To Fight “Friend” Riddell
Not only will Fiziev’s clash with Riddell represent a chance for him to move a step closer to the top 10, but it will also be a rare occurrence where two friends agree to trade blows inside the Octagon. Both men have trained at Tiger Muay Thai, a training facility located in Phuket, Thailand.
Fiziev told MMA News that he’d certainly rather not be fighting a friend at UFC Vegas 44, but at the end of the day, he needs to make money. He sees his contest with Riddell as a case of two friends lending each other a hand in doing so.
“I don’t want (to) fight with my friends. This is not good. This is, for sure, this is not good feel(ing) when you go fight with friends. But UFC wanted, UFC asked. UFC tried to make this fight a second time and sometimes we can’t say no. If I say no, maybe I not fight this year. If Brad says no, same; he not fight this year. But we need to fight. We need to make money because it’s work, it’s a business. This is what it is. He help me to make money, I help him to make money. After fight, we’re still friends.”
Fiziev also revealed that he agreed to fight Riddell over the phone. The 28-year-old said the New Zealander called him to discuss the UFC’s desire to match them up against each other.
“Yeah (I’ve spoken to Riddell). It’s a good story because he called me, and I very respect him when he call me. I respect his choice (to call), you know. He called me and he said, ‘Bro, UFC want to make a fight, me and you.’ And we talked a little bit. I talked with him first, and we say like, ‘Okay, let’s make it because we need to fight. You need to fight, I need to fight, let’s make it, you know, why not?’ We talked together, you know. And after, I called to my manager and said, ‘Hey, we’ve already talked, we’ll fight.'”
Catch our full interview with Rafael Fiziev ahead of UFC Vegas 44 below:
Who do you think will have their hand raised in the UFC Vegas 44 co-main event, Rafael Fiziev or Brad Riddell?
Lightweight showdown between two elite strikers in Brad Riddell and Rafael Fiziev is set to go down. Riddell will face Fiziev in an exciting lightweight matchup on December 4th on a Fight Night card. MMA Junkie first reported the matchup. According to …
Lightweight showdown between two elite strikers in Brad Riddell and Rafael Fiziev is set to go down. Riddell will face Fiziev in an exciting lightweight matchup on December 4th on a Fight Night card. MMA Junkie first reported the matchup. According to anonymous sources, verbal agreements between the two teams have been made. The venue […]
Lightweights Brad Riddell and Rafael Fiziev will go toe to toe at UFC’s ‘Fight Night’ on December 4th. The match-up will take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Riddell is coming off an absolute barn burner against Drew Dober at UFC 263. The fight between the two lightweight fighters earned them ‘Fight of […]
Lightweights Brad Riddell and Rafael Fiziev will go toe to toe at UFC’s ‘Fight Night’ on December 4th.
The match-up will take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Riddell is coming off an absolute barn burner against Drew Dober at UFC 263. The fight between the two lightweight fighters earned them ‘Fight of the Night’ on a great card which included some of the top fighters in the UFC.
Riddell and Fiziev is the newest addition to UFC Fight Night 199 that also has bouts between Alex Perez vs Matt Schnell and Claudio Puelles vs Chris Gruetzemacher
Fiziev is coming off a spectacular win via unanimous decision against Bobby Green at UFC 265. That bout also won him the ‘Fight of the Night’ award for that event as well. Fans were treated to quite possibly the best call out in UFC history when Fiziev called out Hasbulla.
Both fighters have become two of the most fun fighters to watch in a very stacked division. Fiziev (10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has won 4 straight fights since losing his UFC debut. Fiziev is currently 13th on the official UFC rankings of the Lightweight division. Riddell (10-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) looks to remain perfect in the UFC against his toughest opponent to date. Riddell is ranked 12 in the UFC’s official rankings in the Lightweight division.
This fight has all the makings to be the ‘Fight of the Night’ at the event. Fiziev has won 3 bonuses in a row, including 2 ‘fight of the nights’ and ‘performance of the night’ for his KO of Renato Moicano.
The two fighter will most likely stand and bang it out the entirety of the fight. Fight fans are already very excited to watch the two strikers go at it.
Are you excited for the fight between Rafael Fiziev and Brad Riddell?
The controversial judge that awarded Rafael Fiziev a clean sweep on the scorecards in his UFC 265 bout with Bobby Green has explained his reasoning behind giving Fiziev the third round, despite Green upending Fiziev in the round’s striking statistics. JJ Ferraro is a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation judge who was criticized by […]
The controversial judge that awarded Rafael Fiziev a clean sweep on the scorecards in his UFC 265 bout with Bobby Green has explained his reasoning behind giving Fiziev the third round, despite Green upending Fiziev in the round’s striking statistics.
JJ Ferraro is a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation judge who was criticized by the MMA community and the UFC 265 broadcast team after it was revealed that Fiziev earned a 30-27 scorecard, while the other two (Chris Lee and Sal D’Amato) each gave Fiziev two of the three rounds. Fiziev still went on to win the fight, but the scoring adds another chapter to unusual scoring by MMA judges across all promotions over the past few years.
Green surged in the third round and had Fiziev in deep waters late in the fight, which made many around the MMA community expect that he won the round fairly easily despite being clearly behind in the fight to Fiziev. Ferraro, in a rare move, explained the reasoning for giving Fiziev the third round despite Green forcing the action and landing the most strikes total in the last five minutes.
“Strikes that are deemed most effective are strikes that have the potential to end the fight,” Ferraro said in a lengthy Twitter statement. “Those are the strikes that hold more weight than any other strikes. It doesn’t matter if they are punches, kicks, elbows, you name it, we have to assess who is trying to end the fight with their weapons.”
“It happens all the time in MMA. Round 3 could have gone either way. One of the other judges told me immediately after the fight that he could see my score as well and was not surprised or shocked at all when I went to Fizev 10-9.”
Ferraro went on to specifically target the broadcast team of Daniel Cormier, Jon Anik, and former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz for alleged bias commentary during and following the bout. The broadcast team had its fair share of criticism for the judges throughout the evening, especially following the Fiziev vs. Green bout.
What are your thoughts on JJ Ferraro’s explanation on the Rafael Fiziev vs. Bobby Green bout?
#UFCVegas44 pic.twitter.com/5Oo8IERQ1m
Lightweights Brad Riddell and Rafael Fiziev will go toe to toe at UFC’s ‘Fight Night’ on December 4th. The match-up will take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Riddell is coming off an absolute barn burner against Drew Dober at UFC 263. The fight between the two lightweight fighters earned them ‘Fight of […]
The controversial judge that awarded Rafael Fiziev a clean sweep on the scorecards in his UFC 265 bout with Bobby Green has explained his reasoning behind giving Fiziev the third round, despite Green upending Fiziev in the round’s striking statistics. JJ Ferraro is a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation judge who was criticized by […]