Rafael Fiziev continued to impress when he took on Renato Moicano at UFC 256, knocking out the Brazilian contender in the very first round.
Renato Moicano was looking to make it 2-0 at lightweight at UFC 256 when he faced promising striker Rafael Fiziev. Moicano had a very good run at featherweight going 5-1 before suffering stoppage losses to both Jose Aldo and Chan Sung Jung. The latter KO sent him to the lightweight division, where he submitted Damir Hadzovic in less than a minute.
Fiziev is a Muay Thai specialist who started his career with a 6-0 run including five knockouts. He fell to Magomed Mustafaev in his UFC debut, but has since racked up two very impressive wins over Alex White and Marc Diakiese.
Fiziev got his snappy kicks going early, targeting Moicano’s legs early. He then picked it up and whipped some kicks to the body. Fiziev worked in his punches, firing in a right straight after a left body kick. Moicano hit a stiff jab and landed a high kick not long after. A combination fired in from Fiziev, but Moicano countered a body kick with a crisp right straight. Fiziev unloaded a flurry of hooks then clipped Moicano with a right straight. He then unleashed a beautiful left body hook to right hand combo then followed it with a left hook that floored the Brazilian. Fiziev followed him down and the fight was stopped.
Body. Head. Head. 🥶 @RafaelFiziev
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— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 13, 2020
It looked like an early stoppage, but when Moicano attempted to stand up, he was unable to and fell back to the ground. In the post-fight, Fiziev told all the lightweights out there to start training, because he’s on the way.
Rafael Fiziev def. Renato Moicano by KO (Left Hook) in Round 1 (4:05)
