Austin Bashi isn’t the type that sits still for long. Starting with his first amateur fight in early 2020, the 24-year old has rarely gone a full year without four or five fights. Even in the years that he came up short of those numbers, it was due to the fact that opponents pulled out of fights. However, this last year has been different.
Following his first win in the octagon, Bashi has been sidelined for 13 months. Some of that was recovering from a minor injury in the fall that pulled him from a bout with Jamall Emmers. However, the rest of the time has been spent improving himself – which can be vital at this early stage of his career.
“I’ve been working just all parts of my game, from the stand-up game to the ground game, wall game, every single part of it,” Bashi said. “So even though I’ve been at this long layoff, it gave me enough time to grow and get better and better this last year. It was still good that it happened.”
That growth has been accelerated by work with two-time featherweight title challenger, Diego Lopes. The two have worked together for a year and a half, which has been big for his development as a fighter.
“I went out for his first [Volkanovski] fight, and then the Jean Silva fight, and then his last [Volkanovski] fight as well,” he explained. “So, I’ve known him for a couple years now, and it’s really good training, great training. Obviously, he’s one of the best in the world, so being able to spar with him when I’m out there and train with him and learn things from him is pretty big for me.”
And it’s not just the work inside the cage that has seen growth. Bashi notes that seeing Lopes carry himself outside of the cage has helped him as well.
“[He’s also helped outside of the cage] for sure. A hundred percent. The thing I like about him most is how humble he is,” Bashi explained. “He obviously has a very, very big name, but he’s super humble and he never shows off or nothing like that. Just a real nice guy, humble guy.”
With all of that training under his belt, Bashi is ready to show the world just what the new version looks like. He’ll get his first chance to at UFC Oklahoma City this Saturday. He fights Jose Miguel Delgado as part of the prelims. They air on Paramount+ starting at 5pm EST.
