Javid Basharat disappointed with Gianni Vazquez due to missing weight

Javid Basharat underwent a brutal weight cut only to see his opponent, Gianni Vazquez, miss weight. Basharat was originally scheduled to fight Said Nurmagomedov on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 266 at the Apex in Las Vegas. However, Nurmagomedov withdrew due to visa problems and was replaced by Vazquez on two days’ notice. While Basharat made weight successfully, Vazquez came in at 141 pounds, missing the non-title bantamweight limit by as much as five pounds.

Basharat dropped Vazquez early and came close to ending the fight in the first round. However, Vazquez survived the attack and turned the tables by dropping Basharat in the second round. Basharat weathered the storm, controlling Vazquez for most of the third round to earn a hard-fought unanimous decision.

The struggle is real

Basharat then revealed that he had a heavy weight cut due to being sick all fight week. After finally making weight, “The Snow Leopard” was disappointed to see his opponent lose weight by such a large margin. When Vazquez was celebrating after the fight, Basharat even told him to stop and show some respect. “I was so sick during fight week that my nose and ears were clogged,” Basharat said in a post-fight interview. “And I got dizzy during the weight cut, I didn’t even know how I was going to gain weight [Vasquez] comes in and misses five pounds, that’s why I was so mad at him. And when he was celebrating after the fight, I told him, ‘Take it easy, man, you lost weight, have some respect.’

Vazquez (13-6) was on a five-fight winning streak entering his brief UFC debut against Basharat (15-2). Meanwhile, Basharat rebounded from a three-fight winless streak that included a no-contest followed by two defeats.