Rafael Fiziev understands why Conor McGregor gets treated like the superstar that he is, but the UFC Vegas 79 headliner believes the former two-division champion has lost a bit of his hunger ahead of a potential return to the octagon.
Fiziev has his own big fight to prepare for as he’ll face Mateusz Gamrot in a scheduled five-rounder this Saturday at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. After McGregor and Michael Chandler coached the most recent season of The Ultimate Fighter, they are slated to compete in a matchup that has yet to be announced. Should the bout come to fruition, Fiziev believes it will come down to who is more focused — which he’s leaning towards to Chandler.
“Michael and I have the same problem, because he also has to control his emotions in the fight,” Fiziev told MMA Fighting. “He has to control it. I think if he starts to control emotions, following the game plan only, he’ll beat Conor, because Conor, he lost the focus. He’s not the Conor from six years ago, five years ago. It’s not [the same] Conor.
“He just has to stay smart, have to stay calm, and I think Michael can win this fight easily just because [Conor] lost the focus. I think if he [gets out of] one round, after, [Chandler will win].
“It’s a very interesting fight.”
Frustrations have grown when it comes to McGregor’s return to the octagon for the first time since suffering a severe leg injury in his TKO loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021. On top of that, McGregor — as of now — has not re-entered the USADA testing pool, which leaves the MMA community wondering if the biggest superstar in the history of the sport will actually compete again, or if McGregor will be given an exemption to forego the required six months of passed tests in order to continue his career.
For Fiziev, it all comes down to status: Because McGregor is as big as a star as he is, he can get away with things others can’t — which Fiziev totally understands, even if he doesn’t agree with it.
“For me it’s like, it’s crazy, bro,” Fiziev told MMA Fighting. “This guy, he’s a superstar, [and] because he’s a superstar, he do whatever [he wants], he don’t need this fight. Now, he fights just for fun, just to stay active.
“It’s still this crazy situation because, How is USADA not testing him? He’s lightweight fighter and you don’t test him. It’s crazy why he can’t do it like that but everybody [else] can, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. But I think he deserves all this s*** around him, because he’s a superstar, man. If you or me [become a star] like him, I think we can we can do the bull**** the same.
“He’s superstar level, that’s why he’s doing this bull****,” Fiziev continues. “But I don’t say if I [become] the superstar, I [would do] the same, because I like [there] to be justice. I don’t want to say [it’s] not justice [with McGregor], but yeah, he does it because he’s a superstar.”
