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Rafael Fiziev will be unable to compete at the upcoming UFC 272 pay-per-view event, which will take place on March 5, 2022.
Fiziev was scheduled to fight Rafael dos Anjos in a lightweight bout in the co-main event. However, 'Ataman' has now taken to his official Twitter handle to announce his withdrawal from the bout after returning a positive COVID-19 test.
Addressing the disappointing news, Fiziev tweeted:
"Iām devastated to announce that Iām out of the fight. I had a great camp and was ready to put on the show, I flew all the way to Vegas from Thailand just to get sick with covid, for 3 days Iām in hotel bed with fever, bones pain and cough."
Rafael Fiziev also apologized to dos Anjos for pulling out of the fight. However, he expressed his desire to fight the former lightweight champion once he recovers.
"I called out RDA and I still want that fight when my health will allow me to compete again. Apologies to him, but saying that I was faking it is complete nonsense. Time will put everything in place"
Rafael Fiziev talks about training with Khamzat Chimaev at Tiger Muay Thai
UFC welterweight contender Khamzat Chimaev recently trained with Rafael Fiziev and UFC interim bantamweight champion Petr Yan at the renowned Tiger Muay Thai gym in Phuket, Thailand.
The Kyrgyzstani fighter recently spoke to Sportskeeda MMA about what it's like to train with arguably the most highly-touted prospect in the UFC. Speaking about Chimaev, the lightweight contender told Andrew Whitelaw:
"Yeah, we trained with him a little bit. I wrestled with him one time. I sparred with him one time. Yeah, [he's a] very strong guy. All MMA world talk about him now and when I trained with him I understand why all MMA world talk about him because [he's] really strong. He [has] perfect wrestling and also have a very good striking too."
Fiziev also stated that Chimaev was courteous to him during their sparring sessions. With that in mind, 'Ataman' stated that he respects the No.11 welterweight even more. He continued:
"We both sparred with each other with respect, you know. He [does] not try to kill me and of course, I don't try to kill him too because he's a big guy and I have a fight soon. I don't need fight in training. All with respect, [he's] a very nice person too."
Check out our full interview with Rafael Fiziev below:
