Farid Basharat is 16-0, 29 years old, and no longer a UFC fighter. Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting reported Wednesday that the bantamweight was removed from the roster after his contract expired and the promotion chose not to offer him a new one. The UFC hasn’t commented. Basharat was No. 13 in the official bantamweight rankings and No. 9 in the Meta Rankings, which makes this the rare release where the guy leaving was ranked ahead of people who are staying.
The UFC resume is clean. He earned his contract with a unanimous decision over Allan Begosso on the Contender Series in 2022. From there he beat Da’Mon Blackshear on decision at UFC 285 in March 2023, then arm-triangled Kleydson Rodrigues in the first round at UFC Fight Night 226 that September. Then came five straight trips to the scorecards: Taylor Lapilus in January 2024, Victor Hugo at UFC 308, Chris Gutierrez at UFC 320, Jean Matsumoto by split decision in February 2026, and John Garza at UFC 329 on July 11. The tally comes out to seven wins and one finish.
The math the UFC seems to be doing
Nobody from the promotion has explained the call, so everything here is inference. Heavy suggested two factors: the UFC’s well-known appetite for finishers, and the raise Basharat was likely due coming off an undefeated run. Both make sense to me, and they compound. A fighter who wins decisions at entry-level pay is a good deal. Paying a decision winner more is a harder sell to the people writing the checks.
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The timing matters too. Season 10 of the Contender Series wrapped Tuesday with 46 contracts handed out, tying the single-season record set in 2023 and matched in 2025. The UFC has spent roughly 10 weeks clearing roster space, and the cuts haven’t been limited to losers. Michael Page went out after four straight wins, and Bloody Elbow pointed out all six of his UFC fights went the distance. Japanese MMA analyst Kenji Osawa summed up the mood on X, writing that a fighting style without risk simply isn’t tolerated anymore. That’s the policy as it looks from the outside, and Basharat fits the profile almost perfectly.
Reading the fights
What bugs me is the leap from going to decision to being boring, because those aren’t the same thing and anyone who watches the grappling knows it. MMA Mania described Basharat as a high work rate fighter with smooth transitions between striking and wrestling, and that matches my read of his style. He’s a chain-and-pressure guy. That kind of fighter accumulates damage and position for 15 minutes rather than looking for one shot. Even one of the fans quoted by Bloody Elbow landed on “Mid yes but not boring,” which is about the fairest four-word scouting report you’ll find.
The Rodrigues fight is the one I’d show anyone who thinks he can’t close. An arm-triangle in Round 1 requires real top control and the patience to pass into a position where the choke is available. He has the finishing mechanics. My read is that against better opposition he prioritized winning rounds over hunting the finish, which is a defensible choice for a fighter whose whole pitch was the zero.
Then there’s the Matsumoto split. A split decision means one judge saw it the other way, and that was his most recent ranked win before UFC 329. From a matchmaker’s chair, that’s the fight that probably made them wonder whether he’d survive a step up in the top 10. Basharat wanted exactly that test. After the Garza fight, he told Joe Rogan he wanted a top-12 or top-10 opponent, and he described himself as “the most well-rounded guy on this roster.”
The Victor Hugo fight tells you something about his willingness. Hugo missed weight by 10 pounds, the bout moved to featherweight, and Basharat fought anyway and won on the cards. In his Instagram statement he wrote that he “always turned up and fought regardless of injuries and weight deficits.” The record backs that up, with one exception: a June 2024 fight with Montel Jackson was scrapped because Basharat was hurt.
UFC 329 was, in my view, a bad matchup for his contract year. Ethyn Ewing withdrew, and Garza took the spot on short notice as a promotional newcomer. A ranked fighter decisioning a debuting replacement on the prelims doesn’t move the business needle. Basharat knew the stakes going in. He told MMA Fighting before the event that the UFC said to “get this fight out of the way and then we can discuss.” He did his part. The discussion apparently never happened.
The disputed part
Basharat’s statement is direct: “I want to clarify that since my last fight, I was never offered a contract or an opponent. I waited, but it never came.” He also wrote that the organization “isn’t what it used to be.”
Zac Pauga offered a different theory on X, arguing that the immediate removal suggested the UFC had been giving Basharat options he didn’t want. That’s Pauga’s speculation, and no outlet has reported any offer. Right now it’s Basharat’s account against a fellow fighter’s guess.
His manager, Ali Abdelaziz, saw this coming in August. “It will be crazy if they don’t sign him, honestly,” he told Bloody Elbow, adding, “I think Farid is one of the best bantamweights on the planet.”
What happens at 135 and after
The division loses the fighter Basharat says holds its longest active win streak, and the fourth longest in the whole company. In the Meta Rankings, Marcus McGhee, Payton Talbott and the rest of the back half of the top 15 each slide closer to the top 10. Basharat himself is expected to drop out of the official rankings entirely.
This is also the second Basharat out the door this year. Older brother Javid was released in February after beating Gianni Vazquez at UFC Vegas 113, then won his PFL debut by unanimous decision over Movsar Ibragimov in August. Heavy noted the PFL is set to merge with MVP MMA ahead of 2027. No talks between Farid and the PFL, ONE Championship or anyone else have been reported.
My pick: he signs with the PFL before the merger closes, and within a year the UFC is explaining why a 135-pounder it ranked No. 13 is winning somewhere else. If the policy is that winning on the cards isn’t enough, the promotion should say so out loud. Fighters building their camps around volume and wrestling deserve to know the rules changed.
