Justin Gaethje is finally back in action. ‘The Highlight’, of course, is set to rematch #11 ranked lightweight star, Rafael Fiziev, on the main card of UFC 313 this weekend. And while this fight is happening only because Dan Hooker pulled out due to an injury, this rematch has been a long time coming.

After all, the first time ‘The Highlight’ and ‘Ataman’ fought– at UFC 286 two years ago– they had an incredibly close fight. While Gaethje managed to eke out a majority decision win, many felt that the decision could well have gone Fiziev’s way. But the Armenian is not one of those people, and feels that the judges made the right call by declaring Gaethje the winner.

“I deserved to lose the first fight with Gaethje. I took too much damage in the last round. I fought stupidly in the last three minutes of the fight,” the Armenian lightweight told Ariel Helwani in a recent interview.

Which is pretty honorable of ‘Ataman’. Not many people would have the magnanimity and self-confidence to admit they lost such a close fight when they could claim otherwise without anyone really batting an eye. But, Fiziev is totally correct about totally dropping the ball in the last round of their first fight. Until then, both Gaethje and Fiziev were having a pretty close fight with many giving ‘Ataman’ a slight edge. But the third round was an absolute catastrophe for the Armenian.

Gaethje showed why he was an absolute legend of the game as he rallied strongly and got into fifth gear. ‘The Highlight’s output increased a lot from the previous rounds as he battered and bloodied Fiziev, landing 48 significant strikes to the Armenian’s dome compared to the latter’s paltry 15. But that is in the rearview mirror and Fiziev has the opportunity to right that loss this weekend. But the stakes for the Gaethje-Fiziev UFC 313 clash are much higher than just avenging a loss.

Could Rafael Fiziev fight for the title by beating Justin Gaethje at UFC 313?

Rafael Fiziev is a bit ring rusty. Coming off a major knee injury he suffered in his September 2023 loss to Mateusz Gamrot, the Armenian hasn’t fought in seventeen months. Worse still, he is coming off consecutive losses and has slipped from being ranked #6 to #11 for these reasons.

Which would have meant he had a pretty long and arduous road to the title picture in a stacked lightweight division. But thankfully, ‘Ataman’ is fighting #3 ranked Justin Gaethje next. And a win over ‘The Highlight’ will definitely put him in the top five, and make him an immediate title contender.

Lightweight champ Islam Makhachev has already said he wants to fight Gaethje next if the American beats Fiziev. But what if the opposite is the case? What if Fiziev beats Gaethje? Would Makhachev want to fight Fiziev instead? Maybe. Especially since Makhachev doesn’t want to do rematches, and both #2 ranked Charles Oliveira and #1 ranked Arman Tsarukyan have already fought and lost to the Dagestani.

So yeah, if the Armenian wins, he could get an immediate title shot, or, at worst, he will be no more than two wins away from a title shot. What do you think about Rafael Fiziev’s thoughts about his UFC 286 loss to Justin Gaethje?