Bantamweights
Farid Basharat (13-0, 4-0 UFC) vs. Chris Gutierrez (22-6-2, 10-3-1 UFC)BETTING ODDS: Basharat (-440), Gutierrez (+340)
Basharat has quietly been doing strong work over the last few years, and he finally gets a chance at a breakthrough win here. As the brother of fellow bantamweight Javid Basharat, he follows in the proud mixed martial arts tradition of less athletic but more technically sound younger siblings. Basharat’s highs haven’t been quite as spectacular as his brother’s best wins, but he has put together four straight wins under the UFC banner, focusing more and more on a surprisingly effective wrestling game. Basharat hasn’t kept a particularly active schedule or gotten prominent card placement, hence his success going under the radar thus far. To illustrate the point, it has been nearly a year since his last win over Victor Hugo, an amusing bit of justice that saw Basharat outwrestle a wrestler despite his opponent missing weight by about 10 pounds. At any rate, Basharat has proven all that he needs to prove against the median level of UFC bantamweight competition at this point, so now he finally gets a step up to try and solve the Gutierrez puzzle. Gutierrez was the dark horse of the UFC’s bantamweight division for about half a decade, dropping his UFC debut in 2018 but then going undefeated for eight straight fights while gaining little notice. Part of the reason that Gutierrez remained under the radar was his dedication to a neutralizing approach. With a strong sense of range and particularly strong leg kicks, Gutierrez was often content to take the fight out of the fight, picking his opponents apart and coasting to a decision victory. Circa 2022, Gutierrez seemed to finally turn his defense into offense, authoring knockout victories over Batgerel Danaa and Frankie Edgar, but that essentially went out the window with his 2023 loss to Pedro Munhoz. American Top Team’s Munhoz managed to get off to a hot start and hurt the American early, and from there—during the rest of that fight and during his subsequent appearances—Gutierrez has been content to recede back into his approach of prioritizing caution and safety above all else. Basharat hasn’t faced someone quite this dedicated to a neutralizing approach, but he has shown enough doggedness and effectiveness to earn the benefit of the doubt that he will do enough to win rounds, even if it doesn’t figure to be all that pretty. The pick is Basharat via decision.
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