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Rafael Fiziev Net Worth
Rafael Fiziev in 2022 has estimated net worth of up to $1.5 Million.
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Full Biography of Rafael Fiziev
Blue-eyed UFC fighter Rafael Fiziev claims that the main thing for him is not belts, but bonuses. Spectators who appreciate the gladiator for the spectacular fights compare Raf with the central character of The Matrix – Neo.
Childhood and youth
The future mixed martial arts fighter was born on March 5, 1993 in the Kazakh border village of Georgievka. 2 years after the birth of Rafael, the settlement was renamed Kordai.
Now in the village, which is only 20 km from the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, 25 thousand people live, and, in addition to Russians, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, there are Azerbaijanis, Jews, Koreans and Dungans among the inhabitants.
Rafael Fiziev’s mother is Russian, and his father, who worked as an operative for 20 years, is Azerbaijani. The guy received the nickname Ataman both because of his grandmother, a Cossack woman, and because of his repeated appearance in an interview in a hat.
As a child, Rafael’s parents moved him to Kyrgyzstan. The first attempt to introduce the boy to martial arts was unsuccessful for him. In a boxing sparring with cousins, organized by his father, the advantage was on the side of Rafael Fiziev’s cousins, and a native of Georgievka for a while became disillusioned with the sport.
However, when the Rafael Fiziev moved from the village to the city, and the persecution of Raf began at school, Rafael Fiziev considered it good to master the techniques of Thai boxing. The martial art captured the young man so much that, having matured, he went to the homeland of this sport, to Thailand, hoping to hone his skills and earn money.
But for some time, Rafael Fiziev barely had enough money in the Far Eastern state for food and housing. The move was preceded by Fiziev’s studies at the school of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and an unsuccessful attempt to make a career in the police of Kyrgyzstan.
mixed martial arts
In addition to Thai boxing, Rafael Fiziev owns the techniques of combat sambo, boxing, jiu-jitsu and classical wrestling. The most difficult thing for a fighter is grappling – a wrestling technique using grips.
Fame came to the native of the border village after the fight with the Thai celebrity Sorghum Petyindi. The duel ended in defeat for Fiziev, but Rafael managed to dodge one of the blows of the Thai, bending back 90 degrees, like the central character in the movie The Matrix. The reception, filmed on video, became a viral video on the Web, which was reposted by UFC President Dana White himself.
In the world’s largest mixed martial arts organization, headed by White, Ataman made his debut in 2019 and in the first fight lost to Russian Magomed Mustafaev as a result of a technical knockout. Rafael Fiziev then went on a three win streak, defeating Alex White, Mark Diakezi and Renata Moicana.
In the first half of 2021, the UFC planned to organize a duel between Rafael Fiziev and Arman Tsarukyan, but the fighters refused to fight, saying that they were friends and could not strike each other.
The fight between Ataman and UFC veteran Bobby Green, which took place in early August 2021 in Houston, turned out to be extremely spectacular. The rivals not only dealt each other more than 200 significant blows, but managed to amuse the audience with funny remarks and gestures. The judges unanimously awarded the victory to Rafael Fiziev.
Rafael Fiziev and Bobby Green
In December 2021, Rafael defeated New Zealander Brad Riddell by knockout and was awarded the prize for the performance of the evening. The native of Kazakhstan entered the battle without a flag. It is curious that the rivals used to train together in Thailand and maintain friendly relations outside the cage.
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Personal life
Rafael Fiziev, with a height of 172 cm, fits into a light weight (up to 70 kg), is happily married to his wife, an Uzbek by nationality. In Raphael’s personal life there is a place for an unusual hobby – blacksmithing. Rafael Fiziev is especially successful in the manufacture of edged weapons.
Rafael Fiziev and his Wife
In the summer of 2020, Raphael found himself at the epicenter of a religious conflict. On the Instagram page, the athlete posted a photo of a mosque in Iraqi Karbala and called the city the third Muslim shrine after Mecca and Medina.
However, in 680, a battle took place in Karbala, which is now assessed differently by Shia and Sunni Muslims. Rafael Fiziev is a Shia, and most of the Muslims of Kyrgyzstan are Sunnis.
As a result, insults rained down on Rafael and his wife, and the fighter said that he was stopping fighting under the flag of the Central Asian state and leaving the country whose mufti had insulted him.
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Rafael Fiziev now
In January 2022, Fiziev, who had previously said in an interview that he was thinking about obtaining Russian citizenship because of his mother’s nationality and friendship with the Russian Peter Yan, said that he did not feel Russian.
Reasons: for Azerbaijanis, nationality is determined by the head of the family – the father, and the mother of the fighter has long been a Muslim by religion.
On February 19, 2022, Fiziev’s duel with the namesake from Brazil, Rafael dos Anjus, was scheduled. However, due to problems with obtaining an American visa that a native of Kazakhstan had, the fight in Las Vegas was postponed to March 5.
Rafael Fiziev and Petr Yan
But even on Fiziev’s birthday, the meeting of the Rafaels did not take place. Former Kyrgyz policeman contracted covid. On his Twitter page, the ill fighter apologized to his opponent and said he hoped to fight the Brazilian in the near future. As of March 21, 2022, Rafael Fiziev was ranked 10th in the official UFC lightweight rankings.
Achievements
- 2020 – Best Fight of the Night (vs. Mark Diakezi)
- 2020 – Best performance of the evening (against Renato Moicanu)
- 2021 Fight of the Night (vs. Bobby Green)
- 2021 Performance of the Night (vs. Brad Riddell)
Interesting Facts
- Rafael Fiziev’s biography formed the basis of the documentary film Rafa, filmed by an American director with Azerbaijani roots, Elmar Bayramov. The picture about a native of Kordai has a namesake film: the French-Portuguese short drama Rafa in 2012 was awarded the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival.
- On the birthday of Rafael in Kyrgyzstan, under the flag of which the athlete performed until mid-autumn 2021, the Day of the worker of the judiciary and the Day of ak kalpak (national headdress) are now celebrated, and in Azerbaijan, where the roots of the UFC fighter lie, the Day of Physical Culture and Sports .
- In the same village as Rafael Fiziev, Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Romanyutin and Canadian film director, producer and screenwriter Sanzhar Sultanov were born.
