Less than a week after UFC 313, Rafael Fiziev is already pondering his next move – but in which division will this all-action striking specialist compete next?
Last Saturday, Justin Gaethje defeated Rafael Fiziev via unanimous decision in a back-and-forth war that rightly earned the ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus out in Las Vegas.
In the days that followed, ‘Ataman’ began to wonder whether it was finally time to make the move from lightweight down to featherweight; however, not everyone wants to see this popular striker dropping into a new division.
UFC lightweight Rafael Fiziev told to rethink featherweight move
Speaking recently on The Ariel Helwani Show, Rafael Fiziev revealed that he’s “starting to think about changing weight divisions,” – specifically, down from 155lbs to 145lbs.
“I cut weight very easily this time, and it was on short notice,” explained the 12-4 contender, adding that “I’ve thought about [featherweight] for a long time because I’m not big for [lightweight].
“I want to fight with the top guys, and all of these guys in the Top 10, they’re very interesting – but man, these guys will have trouble if I come there.”
Whilst the wider UFC fanbase is excited by the prospect of ‘Ataman’ throwing down at 145lbs, not everyone agrees that Fiziev should make such a drastic change at this stage of his career.
Former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, who made his own divisional move in 2024, is one of those who would prefer to see Fiziev sticking with his current weight class.
“I told his a– to stay at 155,” Sterling wrote on X in response to one fan suggesting that he welcome Fiziev to the 145lb scene, adding: “We don’t need that chaos at 145. Respectfully.”
Sterling isn’t the only UFC icon who is against Fiziev moving down to featherweight, with Chael Sonnen claiming that such a move would significantly ‘shorten his career’.
“Fiziev’s down man, he’s down in the dumps, he’s feeling the post-fight blues and he’s talking about changing weight classes and I don’t love it,” Sonnen stated in a video on his YouTube.
“That’s not a great idea, the years of your career and when the whole career is done, the only thing that’s real is the money and the miles… You will shorten your career by going to 145lbs and historically speaking you can’t find me examples of when that has worked.”
Who could Rafael Fiziev fight in his UFC featherweight debut?
Only a few days after that PPV co-main event, Fiziev took to Instagram to share a picture of him alongside UFC matchmaker Hunter Campbell with the caption “Good news coming soon.”
Should that ‘good news’ be related to his drop down to featherweight, who are the potential opponents who could welcome ‘Ataman’ to the division?
Well, with Alexander Volkanovski (1) and Diego Lopes (3) set to contest the vacant title next month, and Max Holloway (2) moving up to lightweight, the next top-ranked contender would be Movsar Evloev (4).
The Russian is 19-0, having bested Aljamain Sterling in his last bout, but is widely expected to sit out and wait to fight the winner of Volkanovski vs Lopes; scheduled for the main event of UFC 314.
Yair Rodriguez (5) is set to face UFC newcomer Patricio Pitbull on that same card, while Josh Emmett (8) and Lerone Murphy (10) throwdown on March 22.
That leaves us with just two potential Top 10 ranked opponents for Fiziev; Brian Ortega (6), and Arnold Allen (7) – both of whom are waiting for their next fight to be booked.