Rafael Fiziev Clears the Air on His Fight-Ending Injury at UFC Fight Night 228

Rafael Fiziev opens up on his unfortunate injury.

UFC lightweight contender Rafael "Ataman" Fiziev has revealed that a torn ACL was the culprit behind his injury TKO loss to Mateusz Gamrot at UFC Fight Night 288 on Sept 23.

The 30-year-old fighter took to Instagram on Sept 25, where he explained his disappointment in the outcome. The caption read, "My ACL said SalamAlykom and ran off!"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rafael Fiziev (@rafael_ataman_fiziev)

"I will be back," Fiziev declared after thanking his fans for their support. "I'm just sad because I had a very great camp and I'm ready to show my best skills. And I'm sad because it happened only in the second round. I'm ready for a loss like that... [I would have been] a hundred times more happy if it happened in the last round.

"I [believed in that fight that I could show] very nice skills. But we have plans, and God has different plans. And his plan is always the best."



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Fiziev's injury came early in the second round of the fight, where he threw a strong right roundhouse kick which appeared to smash the elbow of Gamrot. "Ataman" fell to the ground in pain and was clutching his left leg after Gamrot got his TKO.

"He broke his foot on the elbow there!" Commentator Dominick Cruz remarked during the live broadcast.

Many fans and pundits were theorizing that Fiziev's injury was related to him kicking Gamrot's elbow, but it's more likely that his left leg ACL was exacerbated from defending Gamrot's takedowns.

Gamrot forcing Fiziev to hop on one leg / @ufceurope on Instagram

There were several instances in the fight where Gamrot clutched a single leg and forced Fiziev to hop across the octagon practically in a split position. It's this repetitive strain that likely caused the fight-ending injury.

Fiziev was actually winning on all three judges scorecards entering the second round, and was likely on his way to stealing the second as well.

Here's hoping for a speedy recovery for "Ataman".

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