It’s official: Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev II at UFC 313.
On Tuesday, Dan Hooker stated that he had to withdraw from his fight against the former UFC Lightweight Champion. The UFC veteran himself explained in detail when the hand injury occurred.
“One of the paws is not doing so well,” he told Ravinder Hunia during Sky Sport NZ, before explaining exactly what had caused the drastic swelling. “So sparring last night, as I do, just letting some hooks go I was throwing some bombs down range and caught one of the boys on the dome with my knuckle.
“I didn’t think too much of it but they sent me off to get a CT scan, had a little CT scan and they told me that my hand is fractured.”
Gaethje took a while to respond, but he made it clear that he was waiting for his next opponent.
24 hours later, he’ll have a rematch against Rafael Fiziev. These two had one hell of a fight at UFC 286 and it received fight of the night honors. Gaethje ultimately won via majority decision. The 36-year-old was able to use that fight as a rebound following his loss to Charles Olivera at UFC 274.
This is a big match-up for Fiziev as well since the UFC star is currently on a two-fight skid. The last time the lightweight fought was in 2023 due to a torn ACL he suffered in his bout against Gamrot.
Mateusz Gamrot and Renato Moicano also volunteered to step in and fight Gaethje, but clearly White chose Fiziev. Based on their previous bout, this should be a true gem for the upcoming pay-per-view.
Check out the updated line-up below:
UFC 313 Main Event on ESPN+ PPV:
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev
UFC 313 Main Card on ESPN+ PPV (10 p.m. ET):
Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev
Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Jalin Turner
Amanda Lemos vs. Iasmin Lucindo
King Green vs. Mauricio Ruffy
UFC 313 Prelims Card on ESPN/ESPN+ (8 p.m. ET):
Joshua Van vs. Rei Tsuruya
Francis Marshall vs. Mairon Santos
Carlos Leal vs. Alex Morono
Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev
UFC 313 Early Prelims Card on ESPN+ (6 p.m. ET):
Brunno Ferreira vs. Armen Petrosyan
Chris Gutierrez vs. TBA
Djorden Santos vs. Ozzy Diaz