“Honestly, sometimes it’s still kind of crazy to believe I’m in the UFC,” he said. “It’s something I dreamed for my whole entire life, and being here, it’s what I’ve always worked for, but for it to actually be reality and me actually being in the UFC is still a crazy feeling.”
It does feel like destiny, though. A well-rounded standout on the regional scene, Bashi used his ground game to defeat Dorian Ramos and earn his UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in September of last year, and nearly a year later, he’s waiting for this third bout in the promotion and working with UFC Noche headliner Diego Lopes in Mexico. In short, he’s come a long way in a year, and as the Contender Series’ ninth season ramps up, watching it as a fan is a different experience for him than it is for most.
“It was kind of crazy to watch because you were just saying I was on it one year ago and watching it yesterday and being in the show, it was cool to watch and kind of crazy.”
There’s a relief also, because on DWCS, you just can’t win and get a contract. It’s how you win that matters, making it the most important fight of a young fighter’s career.