Rafael Fiziev had a dream, and it had nothing to do with competing in a UFC octagon. For years, the Azerbaijani lightweight imagined himself as a police officer, standing with the law in Kyrgyzstan. That dream collapsed within months of graduating the police academy, and the path that followed eventually led him to a knockout victory on home soil.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show following his spinning heel kick finish in UFC Baku, Fiziev opened up about what he witnessed when he joined the force after years of working toward that goal.
“I finished the police academy, I went to work, and I saw all this bulls**t in the Kyrgyzstan police,” Fiziev said. “Zero justice, 100% corruption.”
The problems ran deeper than general disillusionment. Fiziev said he watched underqualified colleagues buy their way into desirable positions while he, despite being a strong student and dedicated officer, was assigned to menial duties based on his appearance.
“I wanted to be in some position where I could protect people, where I could stay against the d**g dealers,” he explained. “But they put me in a bad position, a position where I did not want to be, and I saw people who never studied well just pay money to get good positions.”
He continued, “I study good, I learn good, I try to be a good officer. And because of corruption, because I have blue eyes and white skin, they do not put me in a good position. So I said okay, I am going to leave.”
What made walking away so difficult was how long the dream had been building. Fiziev spent five years in school dreaming of becoming a police officer, then five more years in the academy working toward that goal. A decade of focus, gone within months of entering the profession.
“After I came and saw how these guys were staying in good positions, guys I could teach how to be a good officer, and what I was actually doing was just going out and giving tickets to bad parking,” he said. “So I said forget it. I am going to leave.”
He walked away and turned his full attention to MMA, training in boxing, jiu-jitsu and kickboxing wherever he could find mat time. When Helwani asked whether the corruption he experienced may have inadvertently launched his MMA career, Fiziev did not hesitate.
“100%,” he said.
Now, Fiziev is ranked among the UFC’s lightweight contenders and fresh off a performance-of-the-night bonus.
[Editor’s Note: Quotes have been edited for clarity and readability.]
