Gaethje vs Fiziev

Who won Gaethje vs Fiziev?

Justin Gaethje beat Rafael Fiziev by majority decision in their 3 round contest during the co-main event of UFC 286, on Saturday 18th March 2023 at o2 Arena in London.

The scorecards were announced as 29-28, 29-28, 28-28 in favor of the winner Justin Gaethje.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 3 rounds in the Lightweight division, which meant the weight limit was 155 pounds (11.1 stone or 70.3 KG).

Gaethje vs Fiziev stats

Justin Gaethje stepped into the octagon with a record of 23 wins, 4 losses and 0 draws, 19 of those wins coming by the way of knock out and 1 by submission.

Rafael Fiziev made his way to the cage with a record of 12 wins, 1 loss and 0 draws, 8 of those wins coming by knock out and 1 by submission.

This was Justin Gaethje's 13th fight in the UFC, having made his debut for the promotion in 2017.

Justin Gaethje's UFC record stood at 8-5-0, while Rafael Fiziev's came in at 6-3-0.

The stats suggested Gaethje had an advantage in power over Fiziev, with a 83% knock out percentage over Fiziev's 67%.

If the fight went to the ground, their records suggested Fiziev had a slight advantage over Gaethje, with a 8% submission rate over Gaethje's 4%.

Justin Gaethje was the older man by 4 years, at 35 years old.

Gaethje had a height advantage of 3 inches over Fiziev. Despite this, Fiziev had 2-inch reach advantage.

Gaethje was the more experienced professional fighter, having had 14 more fights, and made his debut in 2011, 3 years and 10 months earlier than Fiziev, whose first professional fight was in 2015. He had fought 35 more professional rounds, 66 to Fiziev's 31.

Gaethje vs Fiziev form

Gaethje had beaten 3 of his last 5 opponents, stopping 2 of them, going to the judges once.

In his last fight leading up to this contest, he had lost to Charles Oliveira at UFC 274 on 7th May 2022 by submission in the 1st round in their UFC Lightweight championship fight at Jeunesse Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Previous to that, he had won against Michael Chandler at UFC 268 on 6th November 2021 by unanimous decision in their 3 round contest at Madison Square Garden, New York City, United States.

Going into that contest, he had been beaten by Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 254 on 24th October 2020 by submission in the 2nd round in their UFC Lightweight championship fight at UFC Fight Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Before that, he had beaten Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 on 9th May 2020 by knockout in the 5th round at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, United States.

He had defeated Donald Cerrone at UFC on ESPN+ 16 on 14th September 2019 by knockout in the 1st round at Rogers Arena, Vancouver, Canada.

Activity check

Gaethje's last 5 fights had come over a period of 4 years, 7 months and 10 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 11 months and 2 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 12 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 2.4 rounds on average.

Fiziev's last 4 fights had come over a period of 3 years, 9 months and 6 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 11 months and 10 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 14 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 3.5 rounds on average.

What were the odds on Gaethje vs Fiziev?

Justin Gaethje was a 19/10 (+190) underdog going into the contest, while Rafael Fiziev made his way into the ring at 21/50 (-240) with oddsmakers.