Rafael Fiziev has raised his hand and now he’ll run it back with Justin Gaethje.
With Dan Hooker out due to injury, Fiziev (12-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) steps in to fight Gaethje (25-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) on less than two weeks notice at UFC 313 on March 8 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the promotion announced Wednesday.
Gaethje and Fiziev first met at UFC 286 in March 2023. The Fight of the Night award-winning bout ended in a majority decision win for Gaethje.
Since then, Gaethje has gone 1-1 with a knockout win over Dustin Poirier and a knockout loss to Max Holloway at UFC 300 in April. Both were “BMF” title fights.
Fiziev has only competed once since the initial showdown. In September 2023, he lost to Mateusz Gamrot when he suffered a torn ACL mid-fight. Fiziev had surgery shortly thereafter and has been mounting a comeback ever since.
With the addition, the UFC 313 lineup includes:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 313.
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Rafael Fiziev stepping in to face Justin Gaethje at UFC 313
Rafael Fiziev will replace Dan Hooker on short notice to face Justin Gaethje in the co-main event of UFC 313 on March 8.
UFC CEO Dana White announced the fight Wednesday on Instagram Live.
Hooker was originally set to face Gaethje (25-5) in a five-round co-main event at UFC 313 in Las Vegas but was forced to withdraw with a hand injury less than two weeks before the fight. Hooker announced the injury in a YouTube video Tuesday. The UFC was left scrambling to keep Gaethje on the card, which is set to be headlined by Alex Pereira defending his light heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Fiziev was one of the first to volunteer as Hooker’s replacement, along with fellow lightweights Renato Moicano and Mateusz Gamrot. It will be a three-round fight instead of five.
Fiziev and Gaethje previously met in March 2023, with “The Highlight” winning a majority decision. The fight was awarded a “Fight of the Night” performance bonus. Since then, Gaethje has gone 1-1. He knocked out Dustin Poirier to win the mythical BMF title in July 2023 and lost it to Max Holloway at UFC 300 in April.
Since losing to Gaethje, Fiziev (12-3) has competed only once. A knee injury prematurely ended his 2023 fight with Gamrot in the second round, and he has been on the mend since that loss.
Gaethje is ranked as the No. 3 lightweight by the UFC with Fiziev ranked as No. 11 in the division.
Former light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill will face Khalil Rountree Jr. in the main event when the UFC heads to Kansas City, Missouri, on April 26.
In the co-main event, former light heavyweight title contender Anthony Smith will compete in his retirement bout against Zhang Mingyang.
Representatives from the UFC confirmed both fights with ESPN on Wednesday.
Hill and Rountree were originally set to meet in June at UFC 303. However, Rountree was forced to withdraw from the fight after revealing that he accidentally had taken a banned substance. Hill also pulled out of the card due to injury.
Rountree (13-6) faced Alex Pereira for the light heavyweight title in October, suffering a fourth-round TKO loss in a spirited battle. The loss ended Rountree’s five-fight winning streak. He is ranked as the No. 7 light heavyweight by the UFC.
Hill (12-3), the UFC’s No. 4-ranked light heavyweight, has lost consecutive fights by stoppage, to Pereira in April and to former champion Jiri Prochazka in January. He won the vacant light heavyweight title in 2023 with a unanimous decision victory over Glover Teixeira but was forced to relinquish the championship after rupturing an Achilles tendon playing basketball.
Smith (37-21) will compete for the final time in the Octagon after 17 years competing as a professional. Smith, 36, was knocked out by Dominick Reyes in December and hopes to end his career on a high note. He announced on his “On Paper with Anthony Smith” podcast last week that his fight against Zhang will be his last and that competing in Kansas City was important to him because it is close to his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
Zhang (18-6) made his UFC debut in February 2024 and is 2-0 with both wins coming by knockout. All 16 of Zhang’s professional MMA wins have come by knockout or submission in the first round.
UFC Fight Night will be part of the TKO Group Holding’s first “TKO Takeover” weekend in Kansas City, showcasing a series of events from April 24-28 at T-Mobile Center. Along with UFC Fight Night, WWE’s weekly flagship program “Monday Night Raw” will be held April 28, and the Professional Bull Riders will kick off the weekend of festivities April 24.
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FIZIEV STEPS IN TO FIGHT GAETHJE AT UFC 313, SILVA TO FIGHT MITCHELL AT UFC 314
On Instagram, UFC CEO Dana White announced Rafael Fiziev will step in for the injured Dan Hooker to face Justin Gaethje at UFC 313 in Las Vegas. The rematch comes almost exactly two years since their original fight at UFC 286 in London in which Gaethje won via majority decision.
Order UFC 313: Pereira vs Ankalaev
Fight fans everywhere were disappointed when Hooker announced a hand injury was forcing him to pull out of the hotly anticipated co-main event against Gaethje. However, a rematch against the slick striker that is Fiziev is as good as it could get as far as replacements could go. Fiziev is fighting for the first time since injuring his knee against Mateusz Gamrot in September 2023, and he is keen to not only get back into action, but get back into the winner’s circle.
Previous to his meeting with Gaethje, Fiziev had tallied a 6-fight winning streak with knockouts over Renato Moicano, Brad Riddell and Rafael dos Anjos and was seemingly on the fast-track toward title contention. Revenge won’t come quietly, though. Gaethje is eager to bounce back from his last-second knockout loss to Max Holloway at UFC 300. At 36 years old, the former interim champion is candid about not knowing how many fights he has left, but he believes he has everything in his locker for one more run at the title.
UFC 313: View The Full Card | Buy Tickets | VIP Experiences
White also announced an addition to UFC 314 in Miami. Brazilian knockout artist Jean Silva, who recently starched Melsik Baghdasaryan in the first round at UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs Song, gets his wish and will face Bryce Mitchell. Silva, a representative of the red-hot Fighting Nerds, comes into the fight having scored knockout wins in each of his four Octagon appearances and boasts a 12-fight winning streak overall. Following his latest win, Silva called out Mitchell, and “Thug Nasty” obliged. Mitchell appeared once in 2024, bouncing back from his knockout loss to Josh Emmett with a knockout win over Kron Gracie at UFC 310. After splitting his last four fights, Mitchell is hopeful he can get back into the featherweight top-10 with a win over one of the hottest fighters on the roster.
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Stay tuned to UFC.com for any updates and news regarding events and fights.
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