Athletes
FARID BASHARAT IS READY TO MAKE WAVES
Driven By Familial Competition, The Unbeaten Emerging Bantamweight Wants To Deliver An Eye-Opening PerformanceThis Weekend In Paris
Don’t be surprised when Farid and Javid Basharat become the first brother tandem to be ranked in the same division in the UFC because the bantamweight siblings have been in a perpetual competition with one another since their early childhood days, and it’s not going to stop any time soon.
“As long as I can remember, me and Javid have been competing and fighting over every little thing,” Farid said with a laugh, relaxing in London prior to decamping for Paris, where he makes his second UFC appearance this weekend against Kleydson Rodrigues. “The way the dynamic of our relationship works is although we’re brothers and we’re teammates and we want the best for each other, we’re also trying to out-do each other.
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“Whenever I fight, it’s ‘All right, Javid — it’s your turn! Show me, show everybody, show the world.’ And when he fights, I’ve got to out-do him; I’ve got to put on a better performance than him.
“It’s this good competitiveness that has gotten us to where we are.”
Where they are is competing alongside one another on the biggest stage in the sport — Javid standing at 14-0 with three straight UFC victories; Farid a couple steps behind at 10-0 and set to make the walk to the Octagon for a second time on Saturday.
Each has progressed unbeaten, undeterred through the regional ranks and Dana White’s Contender Series, learning from one another, as well as the unofficial “third brother,” flyweight contender Amir Albazi, who was the first of the trio to join the UFC roster.
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“I’m glad you brought up Amir because it’s like we’re three brothers and the experience we get from each other is so helpful,” the younger Basharat said of Albazi, who debuted in the UFC in July 2020, and current sits at No. 3 in the flyweight rankings. “The best thing to do with these kinds of situations is to take what they did well, and where they could have improved, the next person has to learn from that.
“Amir just had his first main event, first five-rounder in June against Kai Kara France. There was so much in that camp that he did well, but some little things to improve that he said, ‘The next camp or when you guys do a main event, you can do this a little bit better.’
“Me being the youngest, me being the one following both of them, I think you’re going to naturally see a more polished product.”
While it may not have felt like the case at the time, Basharat’s debut victory over Da’Mon Blackshear has aged exceptionally well in the wake of the hyper-active grappler earning a pair of wins earlier in the year, including just the third twister submission in UFC history, and pushing surging bantamweight Mario Bautista to his limits on extremely short notice a couple weeks back at UFC 292.
In the moment, that UFC 285 debut wasn’t the kind of first showing that necessarily jumped off the page, but watching Blackshear continue to thrive and knowing more of what Basharat was dealing with in the preamble to his maiden UFC voyage in March increases the impact of the performance and the anticipation for his sophomore outing this weekend against Rodrigues.
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“I was so lucky and blessed to get an opportunity like that — T-Mobile, 285, Jon Jones’ return, and there were other big fights,” said Basharat, who acknowledged there were some pre-fight jitters prior to striding out to the Octagon in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas earlier this year. “That was one of the reasons why one would feel jitters, but the other reason for me, specifically, was also I had a major surgery in October — I completely tore and detached my UCL from my elbow, so my left arm was useless.
“I got a complete re-attachment surgery, and I got medically cleared six weeks before the Da’Mon Blackshear fight. Prior to that, I was doing one-armed pads, southpaw, kicking a lot, running, but as far as grappling goes, sparring — the real stuff — it wasn’t until after Javid’s fight on January 14, when he fought Mendonca, that’s when I got cleared by the medical team.”
Injuries to the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) are prevalent in baseball — it’s the “pop” pitchers often mention hearing when something in their elbow goes, and in situations where surgery is required, it usually takes nine months before an athlete regains the strength and stability in their arm.
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Basharat earned his UFC contract in mid-September, had surgery in early October, and was in the Octagon, making his debut on a loaded pay-per-view event, with a ton of hype and intriguing surrounding his first outing just five months later.
Although he knew it wasn’t going to be the best version of himself, he was certain he could do enough to decisively beat Blackshear and get his UFC tenure off to a positive start.
“I don’t believe I was my best version, and I said to my brother during camp ‘I think, realistically speaking, it’s not going to be the best Farid to go into this fight, but this version of me will be good enough to clearly beat Da’Mon Blackshear,’ and I did,” said Basharat, who earned 29-28 scores across the board to progress to 10-0 as a professional. “I clearly beat him. I believe I won every single round, and I performed very well.
“Was it the best version of me? I don’t think so, but I performed very well and, like I said, to get cleared six weeks prior to the fight and then go out and do that? I’m proud of that debut.
“In Paris, I believe you’re really going to see the best version,” he added. "It’s going to be a proper camp — a healthy, full MMA camp — rather than doing months of staying in shape and then six weeks of MMA.”
Not only does Basharat want to show that he’s even better than the fighter that clearly defeated Blackshear in March, but also that he’s someone that will be facing the best fighters in the division in the not too distant future.
While he’s fully locked in on Saturday’s meeting with Rodrigues, the 26-year-old admitted that is training is never so much about the next man that will be standing across from him inside the Octagon, but rather about developing the skills needed to thrive and succeed against the top tier of talent in the UFC’s most robust and competitive division.
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“All these camps I’m doing, not only am I preparing for my current opponent, I’m preparing for future opponents, too,” offered Basharat, who went 4-0 as an amateur prior to transitioning to the professional ranks, where he’s earned six of his 10 wins by stoppage. “Those are the hopes I have for myself. I’m really keeping my eyes on the guys at the top.
“Not that I’m looking past Kleydson or my current opponents, but within a year or two, I view myself competing with those guys. When I do these camps, I’m not just thinking about Da’Mon and Kleydson — I’m thinking about ‘I need to improve this because when I get to so-and-so in the Top 5, he does this well, so I need to improve this.’”
And the bantamweight sophomore is confident that he has what it takes to hang with the new champ right now.
“Say what you will: I truly believe that if me and O’Malley fought right now, I win; I truly believe this,” said Basharat. “On the feet, he’s very, very good; he’s more dangerous than myself, but I have more tools.
“On the feet, it’s like a 50/50; he’s not going to do me like he does many of these guys because I have that striking finesse coming in, but I also have the takedown to threaten with, where O’Malley doesn’t have much grappling to threaten me with, unless I do something silly like give up my neck.
From my point of view, I’m looking at the champion and I’m thinking, ‘I beat this guy.’ I know that if we fight multiple times, I beat him more than he beats me; I know this, and it’s such a great motivation. The division is wide open right now.”
As certain as he is that a series against “Sugar” would fall in his favor, the emerging prospect also fully understands that he has to work his way into a position to make that fight happen, and is ready to take the next step in that journey on Saturday night in Paris.
“But for me, I’m not even Top 15 right now,” he acknowledged. “I want to get these couple of fights, beat a couple Top 15 guys, get to the Top 5, and if O’Malley is there or not, I know I’m going to be at the top one day.
“When I go to Paris, be it on the feet or on the ground, depending what Kleydson presents to me, I need to make sure I go out there and have a spectacular performance,” Basharat added. “I have to have a performance that makes people go ‘Wow! This is the next guy that is going to make waves in the division.’”
UFC Fight Night: Gane vs Spivac took place live from the Accor Arena in Paris, France on September 2, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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