No. 8 ranked UFC lightweight Rafael Fisiev responded to Justin Gaethje, who mocked “The Ataman’s” claim that he ran from him for two rounds until he found a way to turn the tide of the fight by poking his finger in his eye.
“The fact is that the poke in the eye changed the dynamic of the fight for me,” “Ataman” wrote on social media. “It’s my fault because I didn’t take the time to recover. Unfortunately, poke in the eye happens and we as fighters have to be prepared for it (especially your opponents). No disrespect intended – I’m rooting for you!”
Earlier, Fiziev said that after the poke he couldn’t see out of his right eye, and Gaethje recalled that he hit his eye with a punch, and the poke was in his left eye.
The fight between Justin Gaethje and Rafael Fisieiev, which took place last March at UFC 286 in London, went the full distance and ended with the American winning by a majority of the judges’ votes.
After that, the American knocked out his compatriot Dustin Porier in a potential challenger bout, and the Azerbaijani fighter suffered another early defeat, suffering a knee injury in a fight against Mateusz Gamrot.
Justin Gaethje is currently preparing for his BMF title defense against Max Holloway, who he will face on April 13 at UFC 300 in Las Vegas, while Rafael Fiziev continues to recover from surgery.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/33808-rafael-fiziev-otvetil-dzhastinu-gejtzhi.html?rand=19907
