In a vacuum, it’s a bit odd that Gaethje and Fiziev would revisit a
close but clear win for the American from 2023. However, given that
this was thrown together on late notice, it’s a fun matchup that
serves as an attempted rebound for Gaethje and an entertaining
reintroduction for Fiziev. Gaethje came into the UFC back in 2017
with plenty of hype as one of the most violent high-level fighters
in the sport. “The Highlight” immediately delivered on that
promise, winning a war with Michael
Johnson that has only been overshadowed because of all the
excellent fights Gaethje has had since. The classic version of
Gaethje had a simple approach, applying constant pressure and
utilizing a high guard as some rudimentary defense to get back to
what he did best: punching his opponents extremely hard. Gaethje’s
rare level of doggedness and durability was the key to success,
even in the face of getting nearly knocked out by opponents like
Johnson, but the code eventually got cracked at an elite level.
Eddie
Alvarez and Dustin
Poirier each outmaneuvered Gaethje and broke him down, even if
he still got enough licks in to make each fight another
entertaining war. Gaethje would go on to run over his next three
opponents, suggesting that he was destined to be an elite action
fighter just outside of the title picture. However, the UFC’s
return from a brief pandemic-related pause saw Gaethje win an
interim lightweight belt with his sharpest performance to date.
Gaethje added just enough patience to his game to allow his
opponents to take the lead, and the result was an absolute
battering of Tony
Ferguson. Gaethje subsequently became the last victim of
Khabib
Nurmagomedov, and from there, he has mostly settled in where he
was previously—as a must-watch fighter who’s never too far away
from a title shot but has hit a ceiling against a lot of other
elite-level lightweights. With his adjustments, Gaethje has given
his career a longer tail and been able to outlast some opponents he
would have lost to otherwise, which includes Fiziev but is most
starkly shown by his starching of Poirier in a rematch. That extra
willingness to cede the initiative can still prove poisonous at
times. His UFC 300 loss to Max
Holloway was one of the best fights of last year. However, a
lot of that was thanks to an absolutely electric Holloway
performance, while Gaethje kept up just enough to hang around until
the literal last second of the fight. Hopefully, Gaethje has
recharged ahead of this rematch against Fiziev, though it’s the
Kazakhstan native who has a bit more to answer for in terms of
bouncing back into elite form.
Fiziev’s UFC career got off to a disappointing start. Rightfully
hyped as an elite striker, Fiziev got caught off-guard by wild
power puncher Magomed
Mustafaev and was knocked out in just 86 seconds. From there,
“Ataman” got the chance to show off his wares and impressed
greatly. He showed some impressively sharp takedown defense to
supplement the highly creative striking game that was advertised,
as Fiziev was able to flow and outmaneuver his opponents while
racking up six straight wins. Fiziev seemed poised for a breakout
in 2023, but it instead wound up as a forgettable year, even with
his impressive performance in losing to Gaethje. Fiziev’s
subsequent main event against Mateusz
Gamrot started off well but ended when he suffered a major leg
injury that has kept him out for nearly 18 months. Unless the
belief is that Gaethje has permanently lost something after his
knockout loss to Holloway, there isn’t much reason to see this
going different than the first time around. Gaethje took a while to
adjust to the Kill Cliff Fight Club rep but clearly did so, and it
was another fight where Fiziev was once again dogged by some
consistent cardio concerns. To his credit, Fiziev still does well
while fighting tired, but that might be more of a liability than
usual as he shakes off the rust; and it still suggests that Gaethje
once again has a clear margin for error to win what should be
another fun fight. The pick is Gaethje via decision.
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