Rafael Fiziev hit the jackpot on his first trip to fight in Las Vegas, landing a massive one-two combination that put Renato Moicano on his back with 4:05 gone in the first round of their lightweight clash at UFC 256. The Thailand-based Kyrgyzstani (9-1) swooped in with an elbow crunch and the fight was called off immediately. While there was a little concern that the call came early from Moicano (14-4), the reality was that the Brazilian was certainly done for the night. What was also made certain was the fact the 27-year-old Fiziev is a rising force in a stacked lightweight division – and the man himself knows that full well. “I want to say to everyone in my division. Guys, train more, more hard, every day more wrestling, grappling, everything you can. I’m coming,” he told commentator Joe Rogan post-fight. Body. Head. Head. @RafaelFiziev Stream #UFC256 on ESPN+ ️ https://t.co/WVX4zKCSVh pic.twitter.com/ORnc0yYQmh — ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 13, 2020 Fiziev’s work as a coach at Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket has brought extended time around the likes of the UFC Russian bantamweight title-holder Petr Yan (15-1), and its Kyrgyzstani flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko (20-3). Fiziev has mixed it with those stars, and the rising generation of UFC talent that has emerged from the gym over the past few years. Little wonder people turn to “Ataman” for striking advice, in terms of both fists and feet, and proof positive of his skills was on show again Sunday. UFC: ‘The Tibetan Eagle’ Su Mudaerji soars in 44-second demolition There was about a minute from the first bell when Fiziev and Moicano went through the processes of checking each other out, dancing around the middle of the cage and feigning left and right. Fiziev then opened things up with a low kick that sounded out on contact through the empty UFC Apex arena. He then repeated the dose, going low then high with his feet, and then backing up out of range. The UFC commentators kept suggesting Moicano’s best path to a win would be to bring the fight to the ground and the Brazilian tried – once – but the effort was shaken off. A few of his straight jabs found their mark but then Fiziev went low, hard and left to the ribs, waited a split second, and then launched his fight-ending attack. And that was that. The win took Fiziev’s record to 3-1 in the UFC and a likely match-up with someone in – or around – the top 15 rankings come the new year. The 31-year-old Moicano was set up as testing material, given he’d only previously lost to featherweight contenders Brian Ortega, Jose Aldo and the Korean Zombie Jung Chan-sung – and he’d moved up into the lightweights to hopefully have a run at the title himself. But all the attention was quickly turned to Fiziev, and the possibilities of what lies ahead. “I don’t really know what to say now,” said Fiziev. “I say everything in the cage.”