10 days before UFC 313 took place, Justin Gaethje received bad news. His opponent, Dan Hooker, suddenly suffered injuries during a training session, thereby having to withdraw. In this context, Justin Gaethje may not be able to play if UFC could not find a replacement.
Rafael Fiziev was chosen to fight Gaethje, but the fact that UFC had difficulty finding Hooker replacement. In Gaethje's latest sharing, he named the boxers who refused to play with him. This list includes 5 people, and Fiziev is the 6th person UFC came.
“Arman Tsarukyan and Charles Oliveira refused. Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier also refused, it was easy to understand why they did it. Renato Moicano was invited to play, but he also refused. Only Rafael Fiziev accepted, and he had to fly over half of the Earth to compete,” Gaethje said.
Among the boxers named by Gaethje, he refused him, Arman Tsarukyan was injured. This caused Tsarukyan to withdraw from the belt match against Islam Makhachev. At that time, the replacement of Tsarukyan was Renato Moicano, and this boxer soon lost to the first half.
On the side of Charles Oliveira, the former UFC champion played with Michael Chandler at UFC 309. Oliveira's current ranking is higher than Gaethje, so he can hardly accept the competition urgently. Dustin Poirier is waiting for UFC to rank a retired match, and Max Holloway can return to Featherweight.
Justin Gaethje and Rafael Fiziev met once in 2023, at UFC 286. At that time, Gaethje was the winner, but the difference between the two boxers was very small. This is also the match that receives the title of Fight of the Night, the best match of UFC 286.