Justin Gaethje produced another memorable performance at UFC 286, then set his sights on a rematch with either of his fellow top three contenders.
Gaethje defeated Rafael Fiziev via majority decision in the co-main event in London and, speaking at the UFC 286 post-fight press conference, paid tribute to his opponent after going toe to toe with Fiziev for a full three rounds.
“Yeah, he was crazy evasive,” Gaethe told reporters, including Fighters Only, backstage at The O2 Arena.
“I really had to put some action behind my leg kicks in order to to land those. He’s a Muay Thai fighter, right? He’s been fighting Muay Thai his whole life. I’ve been wrestling my whole life. So yeah, I’m happy with my performance. I fought a perfect fight. I had to find a perfect fight for such a dangerous opponent. I’m looking forward to watching his future fights.”
While Gaethje spoke of his respect for Fiziev’s skills, he did throw back to a comment made by “Ataman” in the lead-up to the fight where he promised to taste Gaethje’s blood during the fight. In the end, it was Gaethje who bloodied up Fiziev.
“He’s impressive. It was impressive. But, you know, I fought such a good fight,” Gaethje said.
“His body kicks weren’t effective. I blocked a lot of those shots with my elbows, my elbows are really swollen right now. Those are gonna really hurt tomorrow or for the next five or six days. But man, the damage that I was able to (dish out)… He wanted to taste blood. He wanted to taste my blood, but unfortunately, he was drowning in his blood. I’m happy about that.”
With the win over Fiziev, Gaethje finds himself in a tricky spot in the UFC lightweight division, and his victory could well put him on collision course with an old rival.
Dustin Poirier is the only man at the top of the division that doesn’t have an obvious next dance partner, and Gaethje’s victory may well see the UFC’s matchmakers pairing them together for a rematch of their bout in Glendale, Arizona, back in 2018. Poirier won that bout via fourth-round TKO, and Gaethje said he wouldn’t be opposed to running it back with “The Diamond” later this year.
“Yeah, that’d be great,” he said.
“I did what I had to do – I fought someone ranked below me. And I 100 percent believe that I deserve to fight someone ranked in front of me.
The loser of the Oliveira and Dariush fight. I’d rather not fight Dariush – I love that dude. I think he’s going to beat Oliveira
“I fought like a complete idiot when I fought Oliveira, so I’d love to have that fight back. But Dustin is just as good an option.”