Former UFC lightweight title challenger Justin Gaethje's Instagram account has been swarmed by Kyrgyz fans since his victory over Rafael Fiziev.
Gaethje took on Fiziev in March this year at UFC 286. In a fight that proved to be filled with action from start to finish, 'The Highlight' secured a unanimous victory.
Interestingly, that seems to be the reason why fans from Kyrgyzstan have become fans of Justin Gaethje now. It is worth noting that Rafael Fiziev moved to Kyrgyzstan as a child with his parents. However, he later moved to Azerbaijan and became a citizen there, which made the Kyrgyz public despise him.
As a result, Justin Gaethje's Instagram account was filled with support from the people of Kyrgyzstan following his win over Rafael Fiziev.
Take a look at some of the reactions below:
"Dastan Ganjebek is his name now lol"
"Saw Kyrgyz people rooting for Justin Gaethje because Rafael Fiziev doesn't represent his home country of Kyrgyzstan, instead he represents his father's home country of Azerbaijan."
"It's for such a dumb*ss reason too. Fiziev dared to leave them because they were harassing him for not being the right denomination of Islam. Between that and muslims supporting Tate i don't think they think too much."
"So Kyrgyzstan is against Fiziev because he denounced them for discrimination/ harassment because of the type of Muslim he is? Weird…"
Justin Gaethje speaks about his retirement plans
Following his win over Fiziev at UFC 286, Gaethje spoke about how he would be making one last run for the title before calling it quits. As of now, 'The Highlight' is set to enter the octagon in a highly anticipated rematch against Dustin Poirier at UFC 291.
Ahead of his clash against Poirier, Gaethje sat down for an interview with MMA Fighting where he spoke about the timeline of his retirement plans. While claiming that he still has at least a couple of years left in him, 'The Highlight' said:
“I would say by 37, I would like to not be doing this anymore. I’m 34 now. Two or three years is a long time but in the greater scheme of things, it’s not that long. I’ve been doing this for 12-15 years, so ultimately, it is the back end of my career in this sport. We’re so emotional after these fights that I wouldn’t believe anything that we say for a week. It was just my thought process after like I’m not gonna be here, forever, so I’m glad that you guys are here to enjoy this with me. I was truly talking to the fans in that moment.”
Catch Gaethje's comments below:
Quick Links
More from Sportskeeda
" modalPopup.closeOnEsc = false; modalPopup.setHeader("Why did you not like this content?"); modalPopup.setContentText(modalText); modalPopup.addCancelOkButton("Submit", resetRatingAndFeedbackForm, sendRating); modalPopup.removeCloseModalIcon(); modalPopup.disableDismissPopup(); modalPopup.open(); } else { sendRating(index); } } function sendRating() { var requestPayload = { "post_id": 1553093, "rating_value": ratingValue } if (ratingValue > 3) { requestPayload.rating_feedback_type = null; requestPayload.rating_feedback = null; } else { if (!$('input[name="drone"]:checked') || !$('input[name="drone"]:checked').value) { showErrorMessage('option'); return; } if (!$(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea") || !$(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea").value) { showErrorMessage('note'); return; } var selectedOption = $('input[name="drone"]:checked').value; var feedbackNote = $(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea").value; requestPayload.rating_feedback_type = selectedOption; requestPayload.rating_feedback = feedbackNote; } pureJSAjaxPost(addratingAPI, requestPayload, onsaveRatingSuccess, onsaveRatingFail, function() {}, true); } function resetRatingAndFeedbackForm() { var activeStars = Array.from($all('.rating span.rating-star.active')); for (var i=0; i < activeStars.length; i++) { activeStars[i].classList.remove("active"); } if ($('input[name="drone"]:checked')) { $('input[name="drone"]:checked').checked = false; } var userNote = document.querySelector(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea"); userNote.value = ''; modalPopup.close(); } function onsaveRatingSuccess() { modalPopup.close(); savePostIdInUserRatedPostsCookie(); $("#post-rating-layout").classList.add("hidden"); $("#post-rating-message").classList.remove("hidden"); window.setInterval(function showMessage() { $("#post-rating-widget").classList.add("hidden"); }, 3000); } function onsaveRatingFail() { console.error('Saving post rating failed!'); modalPopup.close(); } function savePostIdInUserRatedPostsCookie() { userRatedPostIds.push(1553093); var expiryTime = new Date(); expiryTime.setMonth(expiryTime.getMonth() + 12); // Expiry after 1 year setCookie("user_rated_post_ids", JSON.stringify(userRatedPostIds), expiryTime); } function isPostRatedByUser() { var userRatedPostIds = getCookie('user_rated_post_ids'); if (userRatedPostIds) { try { userRatedPostIds = JSON.parse(userRatedPostIds); } catch (err) { console.error(err); return false; } } else { return false; } if(userRatedPostIds.indexOf(1553093) >= 0) { return true; } else { return false; } } function getRatingCountByPostId(postId) { return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) { pureJSAjaxGet( getRatingCountBaseURL + postId + '/rating/count', function(data) { try { data = JSON.parse(data); if (data.meta_value) { resolve(data.meta_value); } reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); } catch (err) { reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); } }, function(err) { reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); }, true); }); } function showErrorMessage(messageType) { var messageContainerId = '#' + messageType + '-error'; $(messageContainerId).classList.remove('hidden'); window.setInterval(function () { $(messageContainerId).classList.add("hidden"); }, 5000); } (function() { var callFired = false; function lazyLoadPostRating() { if (callFired) return; callFired = true; if (!isPostRatedByUser()) { getRatingCountByPostId(1553093) .then(function(ratingCount) { if (ratingCount < 10) { $("#post-rating-widget").classList.remove("hidden"); } }) .catch(function(err){ console.error(err); }); } } document.addEventListener("scroll", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); document.addEventListener("mousemove", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); document.addEventListener("touchmove", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); })();
