Rafael Fiziev warned against featherweight drop after UFC 313 loss: ‘That’s not a great idea’

Fan-favorite striker, Rafael Fiziev has been urged against a targeted featherweight division drop by former UFC title challenger, Chael Sonnen in his next outing, with the latter claiming a weight class drop would “shorten” the striking star’s combat sports career.

Fiziev, who returned to action on just weeks’ notice at UFC 313 last weekend, suffered his third consecutive loss in a back-and-forth unanimous decision loss to former interim champion, Justin Gaethje in their hotly-contested rematch in Las Vegas.

Previously facing off with Gaethje in the UK back in 2023, Kazakh striker, Rafael Fiziev would force a majority decision on that occasion against the former symbolic BMF gold holder, in another contentious loss.

However, in the days after his UFC 313 loss, Tiger Muay Thai ace, Fiziev admitted he was weighing up a surprising move to the featherweight limit.

“I’m start to thinking right now about change weight divisions,” Rafael Fiziev told Ariel Helwani for Uncrowned. “Because I really cut weight really easy this time, and this is short notice. Very easy bro. All this week, my nutritionist, Jason, he tried to gain my weight because my weight go low so fast. Yeah, right now I have to think about it.”

Rafael Fiziev warned to consider featherweight move

And warned against such a surprising move, Fiziev has been told by former middleweight and light heavyweight title chaser, Sonnen, how a staggering featherweight drop from far from a “great” idea.

“Fiziev is talking about going down to 145lbs, first off, that’s not a great idea, the years of your career and when the whole career is done, the only thing that’s real is the money and the miles,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel.

“You will shorten your career by going to 145lbs, and historically speaking you can’t find me examples of when that has worked,” Sonnen continued.