“Over this last year, he’s closed the gap,” he said of his younger brother, whose initial appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series this year was scuttled when his opponent missed weight by a considerable margin, resulting in Farid finally stepping into the cage this week, just a few days before Javid will make the same walk. “Before it was a bit different — I was big brothering him a little bit, but now, he’s a handful.
“He always tells me I’m his hardest round and stuff, but honestly, he’s one of my hardest rounds, too. There are some things that he does far better than me, and that’s how we’ve become so well-rounded is because I get to pick his good qualities, he gets to pick my good qualities, and this is how we evolve.
“Now with our coaching staff? Man… the future is bright; that’s all I can say.”
The vision towards the future has kept Basharat from really sitting down and taking stock of all the major changes that have transpired, both personally and professionally, over the last year.
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From winning on the Contender Series and earning a UFC contract, to relocating to Las Vegas and winning his UFC debut, and now diving headfirst into the deep end of the talent pool in his second outing, it has been a lot.
But, for now, he remains focused on the bright future.
“I have not really had a chance to settle and think about my accomplishments because really and truly, as a fighter from the (United Kingdom), the route I took, it was not easy; nobody was getting signed by the UFC from the UK.
“It was a big accomplishment, but I didn’t sit down and dwell on it because I was just like, ‘I need to get to work!’ As far as I’m concerned, the bantamweight division is the best division in the UFC, and I’ll be silly if I sit back and rest for a bit.
“I need to catch up and climb that ladder.”
And he needs to continue putting as much distance as possible between himself and Farid.
“I can’t let little brother have a higher ranking than me; that can’t work.”
