Austin Bashi punched his UFC ticket with a second-round submission win over Dorian Ramos on the Contender Series on Sept. 3.
Bashi, a 13-0 bantamweight turned featherweight, said it “feels real good” to have been signed to the UFC.
“I’ve been working toward this my whole entire life,” Bashi told MMASucka. “It’s been a dream of mine since I was a young kid to be a UFC champion. To now be in the UFC, it’s really amazing to see this all.”
Ramos initiated the grappling against Bashi, who then implemented his own grappling-heavy game plan. He submitted Ramos with a rear naked choke 3:15 into the second round after taking his back while standing. While the fight was on a couple of days’ notice, Bashi said his coaches were expecting Ramos to try and shoot in early, so he was expecting it.
Bashi fought the majority of his career at 135 pounds, starting with the XFC, winning the Shamrock FC bantamweight title over Erion Zekthi before moving to Lights Out Championship. He defeated Joe Penafiel to win that promotion’s bantamweight title and defended against Erik Vo and Askar Askar.
He would go on to fight Zac Riley at featherweight, testing out the new weight class, before getting the Contender Series opportunity against Ramos. Featherweight will be Bashi’s weight class going forward, he said.
“My last five fights at bantamweight were super, super tough weight cuts,” Bashi said. “I’m still growing to this day. I’m only 22, so every day, I’m growing more and more. I’m getting stronger. I feel real good at featherweight. The weight cuts aren’t taking such a big toll on me. I’m going into these fights way fresher, stronger, faster. I’m mentally better, and physically, so I love it here at featherweight.”
Bashi said he is not looking at the bigger picture when it comes to the top of the featherweight rankings and potential future opponents.
“I just look at one fight at a time, one step at a time. I never want to look ahead of myself, so whoever I have next, that’s the opponent I will focus on, and I plan on doing this throughout my whole career leading up to the title.”
Bashi said he doesn’t “really know too many people” in the featherweight division outside of the top 15. He plans to develop slowly in the UFC, similar to how he progressed on the regional circuit.
“My whole entire career, I really took my time. Even though I had 13 fights in maybe three-and-a-half years, I’ve made sure to really grow and develop,” he said. “I fought some tough opponents. Same thing [in the UFC]. I really want to take my time and grow and develop. My plan is to get three fights a year, hopefully.”
Bashi said he likes being active and wants to make his UFC debut within the next three months.
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