Sherdog Prospect Watch: Javid Basharat

Closing out the dominate performance with a 3rd round submission

[ @JavidBasharat | #DWCS | Tune in LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/TMixrdYZN5

— UFC (@ufc) October 27, 2021

Javid Basharat will become the third Afghani man—Siyar Bahadurzada and Nasrat Haqparast were the first two—to ever compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship when he faces Trevin Jones in a three-round bantamweight affair as part of the UFC Fight Night 203 undercard on March 12 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. “The Snow Leopard” features an eye-catching 11-0 record with 11 finishes. However, Basharat’s opponents sport a combined mark of 48-88 (.353). Still, his career can be split into two distinct parts, and the opposition over the second half of his professional run carries a far better .830 winning percentage.

Basharat and his mother escaped war-torn Afghanistan when he was 5 and fled to England, where they rejoined his father. He started his mixed martial arts journey at London Shootfighters, and while most of the famed gym’s standouts were refined strikers—see Michael Page—he showed a versatility on the feet and on the mat. Most of Basharat’s victories have come by submission, but he can also finish with strikes, as evidenced by his five wins by knockout or technical knockout.

The former FightStar Championship titleholder made his professional debut in 2016. The first half of his career was relatively uneventful, as he walked through one journeyman after another—a common practice for up-and-coming fighters in England. His most noteworthy victory from that time period was a second-round submission of Tony Hall. They locked horns under the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts banner on Sept. 15, 2017. Basharat mostly dominated his counterpart on the canvas in the first round. The middle stanza lasted just long enough for the Afghani to land a few punches, take down Hall and seize the moment by locking in a fight-ending guillotine choke. The tapout brought it to a close 1:42 into Round 2.


The second half of Basharat’s career started with his title bout at FightStar Championship 18. There, he took on Wisam Mamoka, who was competing after a three-year layoff but carried an unblemished 5-0 record. They went head-to-head right out of the gate. Perhaps it was due to ring rust, but Mamoka’s shots looked less effective than those of his opponent. Basharat seemed to read him like an open book, as he dodged Mamoka’s blows and retaliated with punches and kicks. One combination shook Mamoka and left him on unsteady legs. Basharat piled on the punishment, eventually forcing the referee to intervene after a mere 51 seconds.


After forcing a doctor stoppage on Nicolas Savio due to an elbow-inflicted cut, Basharat traveled to the Czech Republic to face Alexander Bezkorovayny in the Okatagon MMA organization. The London-based prospect forced Bezkorovayny to tap to a brabo choke in the second round of their Oktagon MMA 19 pairing on Dec. 5, 2020. The performance earned Basharat the opportunity to compete in front of UFC brass on Dana White’s Contender Series. He met Oron Kahlon on Oct. 26, 2021. Hours ahead of the bout, Khalon made the wrong kind of headlines for missing weight by three pounds before accusing Basharat of being a terrorist during their ceremonial faceoff. Basharat kept his cool and made his overweight opponent bay inside the cage the following day. After inflicting significant damage to Kahlon and dominating him throughout the clash, Basharat forced him to surrender to guillotine choke 4:12 into Round 3. The 26-year-old’s efforts were rewarded with a UFC contract.