Rafael Fiziev was able to return to the win column after a three fight losing skid and a sparring partner of the talented lightweight has offered some thoughts on Fiziev's return to form at UFC Baku. Appearing on MMA Canada, Karim Henniene will make his first foray into the smart cage as the company goes to Africa for the first time with PFL Africa 1 on July 19th.
Henniene is a well travelled fighter across several of Canada's big regional circuits and the 4-0 pro MMA fighter is also well travelled in terms of gyms he has hone his skills within. Some of these gyms include Kill Cliff FC and Bangtao Muay Thai with Henniene working with Fiziev in the latter space.
When getting into some aspects of the training dynamics with the super exciting 155 pound UFC fighter and the key victory Fiziev secured in the octagon on June 21st, Henniene said,
"Yeah, exactly. I was in Thailand. I trained at Bangtao. I got some good rounds with Rafael Fiziev, one of the best strikers in the world. So at this point, I don't think anyone can surprise me with any striking... I know exactly he was going to win and like now that I've sparred him, I know exactly what kind of combination he's going to throw and how he throw it."
"Yeah that was really fun to see and beautiful technique and everything. How he goes to the body and to the head. Yeah, distance control when he had to close the distance. He don't go only to the head. He goes body, body, head, distance, he get back in. Body, body, head. Like yeah, that was beautiful to see, definitely."
Rafael Fiziev and the story of his UFC Baku journey
Rafael Fiziev found himself in a tough career spot as the partisan pugilist headed into the cage for his fight in Azerbaijan. 'Ataman' entered the cage at UFC Baku on the heels of three setbacks with a pair of losses to former interim UFC lightweight champion and former BMF champion Justin Gaethje bookending an injury-based loss to Mateusz Gamrot. Fiziev had his back against the wall and faced a stiff test in front of him in the form of a game combatant in Ignacio Bahamondes.
When all was said and done with their UFC Baku co-main event clash, it was Fiziev would emerge victorious over Bahamondes by way of a unanimous decision. Fiziev is now the number eleven ranked lightweight competititor in the UFC's rankings hierarchy, as of this writing.
