Austin Bashi Is The Fighter To Watch At UFC Vegas 101

Austin Bashi makes his UFC debut on Saturday’s UFC Vegas 101 card. The 23-year-old unbeaten competitor makes his promotional debut in the same arena where he earned his UFC contract, the UFC Apex. Bashi faces the 27-year-old Christian Rodriguez in a featherweight scrap at the UFC Fight Night event. Rodriguez has been with the UFC since 2022 and has a promotional record of 4-2.

Heading into the first fight card on the 2025 UFC schedule, Bashi has some hype behind him after putting together a 13-0 record with eight finishes since making his professional MMA debut in 2020. Bashi, who opened as the underdog, but has since become the betting favorite over Rodriguez, is unfazed by the talk of his potential as a UFC fighter.

“Something about me is that no matter what the media is saying, no matter how big someone is trying to hype me up, I think the reason I’m undefeated and I continue to keep beating these guys is because I throw all that out the window and I’m not thinking about any of that,” Bashi said ahead of UFC Vegas 101 (via MMA Junkie).

“… If you go look at my regional scene fights, you go see who I fought, I fought nothing but tough guys. Literally, since my debut, I’ve been thrown to the wolves. Here I am, 13 fights later, 13-0.”

One fighter that Bashi has been compared to is Raul Rosas Jr., but Bashi feels that comparison might be based on nothing but age.

“A lot of people try to compare me to Raul,” Bashi added. “I’m nothing like him. I feel like my game is completely different. My I.Q., my pace, my cardio, my everything about me is different than Raul. I just feel like I’m a whole different fighter than him. … I see myself finishing him either via TKO or rear-naked choke at the end of the second or early third.”

Rodriguez handed Rosas the first loss of his professional career, beating him Rosas via decision in April 2023. He is 2-1 since that fight, most recently losing to Julian Erosa in July via guillotine choke.

Bashi earned his UFC contract with a win on a Dana White Contender Series card in September. I wrote the following regarding the performance of the then 22-year-old.

Bashi fought with a high pace against Dorian Ramos. Bashi started the featherweight fight at 100 and never took his foot off the gas. He dominated Ramos throughout the fight, showing excellent cardio and strong grappling, which he set up with his striking.

A young fighter who entered the DWCS as one of the more hyped prospects of the season, Bashi was a little reckless in his execution. He expended a lot of energy using high-impact techniques, which Bashi will need to rein in when he faces better competition, but Bashi looks like a confident fighter who believes he belongs in the UFC. We’ll find out soon how he’ll perform as a UFC fighter.

UFC Vegas 101: Dern vs. Ribas 2 streams on ESPN+ with prelims starting at 4:00 p.m. ET and the main card beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET.

We will have more on the UFC Vegas 101 fight card and Austin Bashi as fight night approaches.