"He smashed everybody" - Rafael Fiziev admits Islam Makhachev's lightweight exit caught him off guard

Rafael Fiziev recently shared his thoughts on Islam Makhachev's departure from the lightweight division, admitting that he was surprised. Makhachev's reign as the UFC lightweight champion was a memorable one, as he had set the record for most consecutive successful lightweight title defenses in UFC history.

After Belal Muhammad lost his welterweight championship to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315, the Dagestani decided to relinquish his lightweight championship in pursuit of 170-pound gold.

Red Corner MMA posted a clip from Fiziev's latest conversation with MMA Fighting, which shows him sharing his reaction to Makachev's move up. 'Ataman' mentioned that he thought the pound-for-pound king would remain champion at lightweight and lavished praise on him for his dominant performances. Fiziev said:

"Honestly, before I didn't believe Islam changed the weight and was going up [to welterweight]. I thought he was going to stay at 155 [pounds] and hold his belt... So, that's good. That's something new for us because he's a really good champion and he smashed everybody. And yeah, now he's going to another [division]. Now we have to know who is the next one."

Check out Red Corner MMA's post featuring Rafael Fiziev's comments regarding Islam Makhachev below:

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Rafael Fiziev expresses gratitude to Ignacio Bahamondes for agreeing to fight him at UFC Baku

Rafael Fiziev also expressed his gratitude to Iganicio Bahamondes for agreeing to fight him at UFC Baku, where the former will have the home crowd advantage. During the aforementioned conversation, Fiziev said:

"For me, it's not a surprise [Bahamondes] said yes, but I really respect that because for him, it's also a big risk. Going across the world, coming to Azerbaijan, my home. And yeah, everybody's a dangerous fight for me, I'm a dangerous guy and he said yes, so I respect that so much."

Check out Rafael Fiziev's comments below (6:51):