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Farid Basharat | Always Focused on Moving Forward
Undefeated Bantamweight Discusses Perfectionist Mindset, UFC 329 Pairing
Farid Basharat is a perfectionist, which is fitting because heading into his UFC 329 clash with short-notice newcomer John Garza, he’s the last fighter in the bantamweight division with a perfect record.
The Dana White’s Contender Series grad is 15-0 overall, with his last six wins coming inside the Octagon, and those two figures are ones that very few people ever achieve. Invariably, something happens during a training camp or in a fight that causes an unexpected setback, or an assignment is just too tough to get by, and you get hit with a loss, but not with Basharat.
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Fifteen up, 15 down, and while most of the time his focus remains on improving and moving forward, the undefeated 28-year-old does allow himself the odd brief moment to appreciate what he’s accomplished so far.
“I think 99.9 percent of the time, my mindset is ‘I’m not good enough; I need to do more,’” Basharat said. “That’s the underdog mindset I have when I’m training, and to be honest with you, sometimes it’s overwhelming because it’s too much of a perfectionist mentality to where I’m constantly thinking to myself, ‘I need to do more. I need to do more. I need to do more.’
“There are instances, however — maybe a 30-minute window one day where I’m like, ‘Look how far you’ve come! You’ve got an amazing record; you’ve got the longest winning streak in one of the deepest weight divisions. You’re doing great stuff, and you’re looking good doing it.’
“All I need is that 30 minutes to an hour to be like, ‘Hey, you’re doing a good job; pat on the back,’ and then back to ‘You need to do this. You need to do that,’” he added. “It’s just my nature; it’s how I’ve always been.”
Admittedly, it used to be worse.
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While the term perfectionist has become an overused term, anyone who genuinely carries that trait understands how challenging it can be to manage, tales of never being satisfied, of always searching for more, even when logically they know they’ve done all they can do and done it well.
There is a lot of discussion these days about how people focus on the one negative comment on a social media post over the myriad positive notes; now take that and apply it to the execution of your craft, and you’ll start to understand how having a perfectionist mindset can be a hindrance, not a helper, especially in a competitive field where winning alone is never enough.
“One of the biggest things I’ve had to learn in my career is to not take that perfectionism thing over the top,” acknowledged Basharat. “I think the problem earlier on in my career, prior to the UFC, was just that: a fight would finish and I would be like, ‘I didn’t finish him in the first!’ My friends or my coaches or often my brother would be telling me, ‘Are you serious? Calm down, relax. Don’t take yourself so seriously’
“I always review my fights once they’re done, and every single time, I’ve been happy with my performance,” he added. “I always come out with things I need to do better — that’s how you keep improving, but that’s different from saying, ‘It was a bad performance.’ Over time, I have learnt that, and if I didn’t, I promise you I would be insane by now, or I wouldn’t be in the sport.”
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There have yet to be any bad performances for Basharat, who added to his winning streak with a split decision win over Jean Matsumoto in February, in what was both a crucial victory and one that feels emblematic of how he’s viewed and portrayed in the bantamweight division at the moment.
“The win was a really good feather in my cap for two reasons: one was the opponent — Jean Matsumoto; really good, really solid, underrated in my opinion,” he said. “I think a lot of the casuals will simply look at ‘Do you have a number by your name? No, well, you must not be that good,’ but that’s not the case with him. He fought Rob Font, who was No. 9 at the time, and you could arguably give that fight to Matsumoto.
“Consequently, it gave me a ranking; it gave me No. 15,” continued Basharat. “It was definitely a proud moment, but at the same time, I also felt — without being arrogant — that I was higher than 15, if I’m honest with you. I was grateful for it — that they gave me 15 — but I felt closer towards No. 10 if I’m being honest because there were a couple guys in there on four, five-fight…”
He paused, finding the right words.
“Chito (Vera) was No. 10, and he’s on a four-fight losing streak; Deiveson Figueiredo had lost four of his last five, and he was No. 7. In my mind, I was like, ‘I’m not sold on these rankings because somebody could get a win next week, and then I’m out of it again.’”
That’s exactly what happened too, as Marcus McGhee bumped Basharat from the rankings following his win over John Yannis at the start of June.
But the launch of the new Meta rankings, with its focus on results, strength of schedule, and method of victory, has been favorable to the Afghan standout, who heads into UFC 329 at No. 10 in those rankings and back at No. 15 in the version decided by media voting, one spot back of McGhee.
While he takes pride in being included on such a massive fight card — and appreciates the past opportunities he’s had to do the same — ultimately, Basharat sees those things as moments to reflect on once his career has finished, and the weekend as nothing more than another day at the office.
“It’s an honor to be on a big card like this,” he said. “International Fight Week is symbolic, and then being on a McGregor card — they’re few and far between these days, this being his first fight in five years, could be his last; who knows?
“In terms of my career, these are accolades you look back on — I made my debut on a Jon Jones card, fought on a Chimaev card, Topuria card, Alex Pereira; really eventful, really meaningful when you look back on them — but in essence, it’s going to be me and another guy locked in a cage, and I have to do my job, and it’s really as simple as that.”
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The guy standing across from him was originally supposed to be Ethyn Ewing, the ascending California native who had opened his UFC career by taking out undefeated prospects Malcolm Wellmaker and Rafael Estevam, and who had designs on doing the same to Basharat on Saturday.
But “The Professor Finesser” was forced out of the matchup and replaced earlier this week by Garza, a 23-year-old prospect on a five-fight winning streak who got the call every young fighter dreams about and now has a chance to make an immediate splash in the UFC.
For Basharat, the shift presents the opportunity for fans and pundits to once again diminish his efforts and detract from what he does, but none of that matters because the focus remains the same.
“The way I approach this career, and everything is that you’ve got to be quite cold,” he said. “Ethyn Ewing — I don’t know him; he’s probably a nice person, but I was fighting him simply to move myself up the ladder. He’s no longer an option; now it’s John Garza; what’s changed? It’s the same thing.
“My plan was to go out there, look spectacular, and get my hand raised, and it’s the same thing. A different person, different tactics, and we have to be flexible. At the end of the day, I think fighters can make the mistake of attaching too much emotion to ‘I was fighting that guy, he pulled out, now I’m stressed.’ No — control your mind, cold heart, and that’s it.”
And should he emerge from UFC 329 with his unblemished record still intact, there are things Basharat hopes will materialize and come his way, but at the end of the day, he’ll simply continue to do what he’s been doing all along.
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“First and foremost, July 11th, but naturally, moving forward would be moving up the rankings,” he said. “I’m No. 10 now and hoping this gets me to 9, 8, 7, and (fighting) anybody above me.
“I really would love to have a — how do I put this in the right words? I would love to have a rewarding matchup from a rankings point of view. I think every fight I’ve had has been a tough fight, but kind of ugly and messy. Even with this fight, I can see pundits and critics saying, ‘It was a debuting fighter, short notice; Farid shouldn’t move up.’
“At the end of the day, I can only take care of what’s in front of me, and it always goes back to that: take care of what I can control, and the rest will take care of itself.”
UFC 329: McGregor vs Holloway 2 took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 11, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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