Winning has never been the issue for Farid Basharat. After defeating Jean Matsumoto at UFC Vegas 113, the undefeated bantamweight added another line to his resume, and another reason to question why his name still isn’t appearing next to a number in the UFC rankings.
“Firstly, it’s the media that makes the rankings yeah? Anybody here have votes? No? Definitely after the last one I thought I would be ranked,” Basharat told Cageside Press among other reporters at his post-fight scrum.
“If you look at the bantamweight rankings, 15, 14 and 13 are all coming off losses. Then you got someone here who’s coming off five wins in the UFC, 14-0. Surely you’d think I’d get a ranking.”
Basharat (15-0), rather than letting that fuel resentment, said his mindset has shifted toward patience and performance.
“I used to get a little bit annoyed, but now it’s like control what I can control, put on the best performances I can, beat the next best guy,” he said.
“Matsumoto, somebody in my opinion, he beat Rob Font. He could have easily been ranked out there. I mean I would be shocked if I’m not ranked now.”
Inside the Octagon, Basharat called out Deiveson Figueiredo as his next potential opponent. While Figueiredo is coming off a loss, his name still carries significant weight and would represent a major resume booster.
“What I like the most is he’s got name value. I’m 6-0 in the UFC, all very tough guys, but what I want is a marquee name in there. Not to take anything away from the six guys. I think I fought six really, really tough guys,” he said.
“But unfortunately they just didn’t have the same name value. Otherwise I would be ranked in the top 10. There’s guys out there with two-fight win streaks who are in the top 10, top 12 somehow. Figgy’s he’s there towards the end of his career, and he’s been champion. He’s headlined some big fights, and I really think I put a clinic on him.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Farid Basharat above.
