Justin Gaethje vs Rafael Fiziev Prediction: Bout No. 2 Will Be As Spectacular As the First One

Las Vegas is going to be hosting UFC 313 on the night of 9th March, with a really exciting rematch between Justin Gaige and Rafael Fiziev as the co-main event. The fight will be in the light heavyweight division (Gaethje is ranked third and Fiziev eleventh). The first time these two fought was in the spring of 2023, and it was a proper barnburner. The judges gave the victory to the American by split decision, but as it happens in such cases, not all experts and fans accepted this decision. Also, Fiziev is stepping in as Dan Hooker's replacement, who's injured.

Justin Gaethje

Justin Gaethje has been top of the highly competitive lightweight division for a long time. He's even a former UFC interim champion and has experience fighting guys like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Dustin Porier, and Charles Oliveira.

Gaethje's known for his very powerful punch, which he uses to finish most of his fights - out of 25 wins, he's got 20 knockouts. Every fight is a big deal for his fans, but his last one he lost at home. Max Holloway knocked him out in the last seconds of an amazing bout. That knockout was one of the most re-watched of last year. Even though Justin seems to have reached his ceiling, his plans are still big.

Rafael Fiziev

Rafael Fiziev made his UFC debut in 2019, and pretty much every fight he's had has got a bonus. He's a real show-stopper, always standing up, with a unique skill set, and he missed last year due to injury. After a controversial loss to Gaethje, the newly minted Azerbaijani came out to fight Mateusz Gamrot, but in the second round after his own leg kick, he was injured and lost by technical knockout.

Expert Betting Tips

The fight was pretty much a foregone conclusion, and we'll get to see the usual suspects: off the scale number of punches thrown and missed, crazy speed and blood, and plenty of it. Fiziev looked more interesting in the first fight until a missed poke to the eye, and Gaethje, as it turns out, can be knocked out flat.

In this fight, we can't ignore the stats, which show that most of the time (almost always) fights involving both Gagey and Fiziev end early. On top of that, Fiziev is coming back from an injury and a long layoff, while Justin is coming back from the worst knockout of his career.

Our picks:

W2 for 1.66

TU (2.5) for 1.91

X2 for 1.63