Las Vegas — American Top Team’s Farid Basarat feels he did more damage to Chris Gutierrez at UFC 320 than any of Gutierrez’s other opponents ever has.
The 14-0 bantamweight spoke with media outlets including Cageside Press following Saturday’s preliminary card bout, noting that Gutierrez is “not so easy to fight, and get much off, because I feel like he’s a survival-first type of fighter.”
“He almost wants to survive more than he wants to win sometimes. And so somebody like that, who’s not really engaging, if you look at all of his 14 UFC fights, I would definitely say that nobody damaged him the way I damaged him in there tonight.”
Basharat called the first two rounds of his fight a “clinic,” but admitted there were “a couple hiccups” in round three. “These are small adjustments,” he added, noting that he’d been off for a year prior to the fight.
Later, he’d suggested that “I think I put the division on notice.”
Basarat, who alongside brother Javid came into the UFC with a ton of hype, knows what he wants next. “I would like to return as soon as possible. I think January sounds good, February at the latest,” he stated.
He has a name in mind as well. “If it was up to me, the perfect match-up for me would be David Martinez. I want David Martinez. He’s ranked #11 after two fights. That’s the fight for me. He’s got the #11 ranking, that’s my ranking.”
Watch the full UFC 320 post-fight press conference with Farid Basharat above.
