Preview: UFC Seattle Prelims

Bantamweights

Javid Basharat (14-1, 3-1 UFC) vs. Ricky Simon (20-6, 8-5 UFC)

ODDS: Basharat (-298), Simon (+240)

A strong bit of matchmaking sees two bantamweights look to rebound from some surprising losses. Simon seemed to be cresting in 2023 when he got the first UFC main event of his career against Yadong Song. After finding a ceiling as a pressuring grinder, he developed a bit more patience to his approach and reeled off a five-fight winning streak as he rounded things out. While it wasn’t a shock that Simon dropped the fight to Song, it’s a real surprise that he now finds himself winless in the last two and a half years. Both Song and Vinicius Oliveira—Simon’s most recent opponent in June—were able to use the threat of their power to scare Simon off his usual aggression. However, the loss to Mario Bautista in between those two at least provides some hope that Simon can turn things around. Simon was outgunned and outpaced against Bautista but at least looked closer to his usual self against someone with much less knockout power. That marks this fight against Basharat as a potential bounce back, though it still figures to be a tough outing. Like Simon, Basharat is looking for his first win in over two years, but he is probably underrated at this point due to that lack of recent success. Basharat came to the UFC in 2021 with the type of game that would seem overconfident on most fighters, but “The Snow Leopard” had enough dynamism and durability to pull off a volume-heavy approach that could sometimes feel dismissive towards his opponents. That might have hit a ceiling in a 2023 fight against Victor Henry, which was going about even until a low blow ended the fight in a no contest. Basharat’s first loss came in his lone bout of 2024, a scrap that saw Aiemann Zahabi land hard counters and prevent him from ever breaking his way into the bout. With Bautista, Oliveira and Zahabi all going on to have plenty of success, it’s hard to know exactly what to take from each man’s recent results here. Those fights now look like a case of Simon and Basharat hitting their respective ceilings rather than any worry for outright disaster. If there’s any cause for concern, it’s probably on the Simon side. As someone who depends on confidence and aggression, he’s now going through the roughest patch of his career. If he shows up in anything near peak form, he should be the harder shot-for-shot hitter and stronger wrestler in a hard-fought bout. The pick is Simon via decision.

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