“This picture was worth it” Rafael Fiziev reacts to heartbreaking loss vs Justin Gaethje at UFC 286

Rafael Fiziev fell short in the overall scores of the judges’ verdict despite putting up a valiant effort in his lightweight bout against Justin ‘The Highlight’ Gaethje.

At tonight’s UFC 286 event, which took place at The O2 Arena in London, a ferociously intense battle took place between arguably the two hardest hitters of the lightweight division. The Azerbaijani fighter’s unbeaten run of six fights came to an end as Justin won the co-main event fight by majority decision (29-28 x2, 28-28).

Congratulations to @Justin_Gaethje and @RafaelFiziev for a spectacular fight 👏👏👏👏👏 #UFC286 pic.twitter.com/TDmMkCjczV

— 🌎MMA🌟in the Jungle (@MMADAN247) March 18, 2023

How did Rafael Fiziev react to his loss against Justin Gaethje?

Ataman entered his fight with Gaethje on a six-fight winning streak, having won all six of his prior fights via knockout. On the other hand, Justin was in a difficult situation after being defeated by Charles Oliveira in UFC 274 the previous year. As a result, all of the pressure was on his shoulders to get back on track, and he brilliantly relieved the pressure with a stunning victory.

Nonetheless, the fighter of Kyrgyz descent seemed to accept the loss extremely professionally and with little apparent remorse. The 30-year-old fighter uploaded a photo of himself to Twitter that was taken during the fight. In the picture, Rafael’s face was covered in blood, making him look like a medieval knight or an ancient warrior.

“This picture was worth it” Rafael captioned his picture.

This picture was worth it 😅 pic.twitter.com/uJ8GVI17EB

— Rafael “Ataman” Fiziev (@RafaelFiziev) March 19, 2023

In a battle that took place on Fight Night on July 9 of the previous year, Rafael, the number five ranked fighter in the division was victorious in a shocker against Rafael Dos Anjos. This victory earned him this bout against Justin Gaethje, who is now ranked third among the fighters in the lightweight division.

The current record for Rafael’s career in MMA is 12 wins, 2 losses, and 0 draws. In addition to his loss against ‘The Highlight’ tonight, Ataman also suffered a defeat in his UFC debut fight against Magomed Mustafaev in 2019. 

No doubt about it 🔥

💸 @Justin_Gaethje & @RafaelFiziev are taking home FOTN honors!

[ #UFC286 | B2YB @ToyoTires ] pic.twitter.com/oqErVDa9BK

— UFC (@ufc) March 19, 2023

What did you think of the fight between Justin Gaethje and Rafael Fiziev at UFC 286? Get in on the conversation by leaving a comment below.