Las Vegas, NV – UFC bantamweight Javid Basharat is tired of fighters ducking him and he said as much following his win at UFC Vegas 67 over Mateus Mendonca on Saturday night.
“It’s been hard (to get fights). That’s why I’ve been taking all these tough guys. I didn’t need to take this Mateus fight. On paper he’s a step downgrade, you know,” Basharat told Cageside Press among other media at his post-fight scrum.
Basharat (14-0) has faced higher competition before, in his opinion, as he regarded both Trevin Jones and Tony Gravely as higher-level fighters.
“This is a debut guy. Gravely’s been in the UFC. He’s had great fights, D1 wrestler, whatever. Even Trevin he had a better name than this guy. Not that this guy wasn’t good, but just on paper,” he said.
“It’s because I’ve been getting ducked, you know, so that’s why I was like alright let me take this fight. For me it’s about my progression it’s not about the name I take out.”
Now that he’s earned his third consecutive win in the UFC, to Basharat, it’s time to finally get into the rankings.
“We need to start getting serious. I need to get ranked if I’m not ranked after this fight let me get a ranked guy so I can show my worth,” said Basharat.
As far as a title shot in 2023 or 2024, while Basharat believes he’s ready, he knows nothing is ever that simple when it comes to the championship.
“Skill-wise yes I can be ready. Will I get it? Due to politics and that, probably not. I’m still not even in the top 15 so how am I going to get that, you know,” he said.
“But progressively, like for my own, I think I’ll be closing down on that for sure.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Javid Basharat above.
