Dana White Clears Air on Basharat, Farid Sends Thanks
The departure of Farid Basharat from the UFC has turned into a weeks-long saga that appears to have finally come to an end.
Basarat (16-0) fought out his contract earlier this year, and despite being 7-0 under the UFC banner, was not re-signed. The bantamweight later released a statement suggesting that the promotion was no longer what it once was; a short time later, UFC CEO and President Dana White addressed the matter during the UFC Edmonton post-fight press conference, answering a question from Cageside Press about the matter by saying “I think that when guys contracts are up— this isn’t the first time this has happened, and either guys aren’t good to deal with and the matchmakers don’t want to deal with them, which could be turning down fights or whatever the reasoning is,” before adding “if you’re 16-0 with seven wins in the UFC, and don’t get re-signed, there’s definitely a reason.”
Basharat’s manager later released a statement denying he’d turned down fights, and Dana White, at Saturday’s UFC 333 post-fight press conference, clarified his statement.
“When I was talking to the media that night and I was saying reasons that you could not get re-signed, I wasn’t saying that about him,” stated White (h/t Freak MMA). “I wasn’t talking about him specifically.”
To be fair to White, never did he tell those in attendance specifically that Basharat had turned down fights. Nor did he give the exact reason that the bantamweight was released, other than saying there was “definitely a reason.”
White added that he had seen a video from Basharat responding to his comments and added that “I was like, ‘Oh shit, I didn’t mean to do that to that kid.’ And I saw he had said something like, ‘If you’re not going to re-sign me, don’t try to hurt my career.’”
“In no way, shape or form did I try to do that. I have no problems with him whatsoever, personally or professionally. And I’m sure with his record and what he’s got going on, he’ll get re-signed somewhere.”
White stated that while Basharat was unlikely to return to the UFC soon, the possibility was there that he could return in future.
Farid Basharat, meanwhile, was thankful for the clarification from his former boss. “Respect to Dana,” he captioned a repost of White’s comments.
The post Dana White Clears Air on Basharat, Farid Sends Thanks appeared first on Cageside Press.