Everybody and their brother tried to step up and fight
UFC star Justin
Gaethje.
On Wednesday,
UFC 313 took a major hit when Dan Hooker
was
forced out of his co-headliner against Gaethje (25-5) due to
injury. The two lightweights were set to collide for a
non-championship five-round affair at the T-Mobile Arena in Las
Vegas. After much consideration and several names offered to the
UFC, the promotion selected Rafael
Fiziev (12-3) as Hooker’s replacement, setting up a rematch
dating back a few years.
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According to Gaethje on Thursday, multiple
names were in contention as new foes. Some were shut down by
the organization, and others ultimately declined the offer. “The
Highlight” stated that Arman
Tsarukyan, Charles
Oliveira, Max
Holloway and Dustin
Poirier all were offered to step in and declined for unknown
reasons. Mateusz
Gamrot also publicly
campaigned for the spot. Even ex-featherweight king Ilia
Topuria was floated as a possible adversary. Instead of those
names, the UFC went with Fiziev. Gaethje and the muay thai coach
out of Kazakhstan first collided at UFC 286 in 2023, where Gaethje
picked up a majority decision win in an ultra-close thriller.
In a conversation with Sherdog, Oliveira’s trainer and manager,
Diego Lima, disputed part of Gaethje’s story.
“I never negotiated Charles to fight Gaethje in UFC 313,” the Chute
Boxe coach said flatly. “It makes sense that he asked everyone who
is ranked higher than him, but that doesn’t mean the UFC called
everyone. Charles was not even offered this possibility. Sometimes
what we want is not what UFC wants.”
With the fight less than two weeks away, conditions were not
optimal for former champion Oliveira to slot in as a replacement.
According to Lima, Oliveira has his sights firmly set on
championship bouts.
“We have an excellent relationship with the UFC and we have always
made it clear that our preference would be to fight for the belt
with Makhachev, but if he is only going to fight at the end of the
year, it doesn’t make sense for Charles to wait without fighting.
So, a super fight for the BMF belt with Holloway would be
excellent, [and Holloway] also approved the idea. But I don’t know
what the UFC’s plans are. With Topuria’s rise, he would face
Makhachev directly. If Makhachev moves up, they could put Charles
and Topuria for the belt. There are many variables, so at the
moment we are waiting for the next steps, but our preference would
be to fight two title fights, against Makhachev, Holloway or
Topuria,” Coach Lima concluded.
Sherdog also reached out to Renato
“Money” Moicano, yet another name that was to be picked out of
a proverbial hat. “Money” last competed in January for a title
shot, taking that fight the day before it took place. While he
ultimately fell short, getting submitted in the first round by
Islam
Makhachev, he was still on the UFC’s shortlist to call for a
big battle like this. “Moicano” confirmed that the UFC did offer
him the fight, but he had to turn it down due to an impossible
weight cut.
“I’m weighing 190 lbs.; I weighed 188 lbs. after my last sparring,”
the Brazilian noted. “The UFC didn’t want a catchweight. I tried to
postpone to [the fight to the] other event but they didn’t want
[that].”
On Friday morning, Poirier spoke up about the possibility of him
turning down a fight. Rather succinctly, “The Diamond” wrote on
social
media, “I never got the call, I didn’t say no.” Finally,
Tsarukyan suggested
that while he did not directly say no to the UFC, he asked for a
catchweight at 160 pounds that the company would not grant.