Javaid Basharat (14-1) will withdraw from his fight against Chris Gutierrez (20-6) at UFC on ESPN 61 due to injury.
Basharat and Gutierrez were scheduled to go head-to-head in a hard-fought bantamweight bout at UFC Apex in Las Vegas this weekend, but Basharat revealed on social media that he will be unable to compete due to an unnamed injury.
“Unfortunately, I will not be competing this weekend,” Basharat wrote on Instagram. “I suffered an injury shortly before the match and it seemed unlikely I would be fully recovered in time for the match, so this was a decision made by myself and my team. Thanks to my coaches and training partners, I am in top condition for the match.” [American Top Team]They opened the doors for me and definitely helped me level up. Now it’s time to recover and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
It is unclear at this time whether Gutierrez will remain on the card against his last-minute replacement opponent.
Basharat’s 14-fight winning streak was marred by an unfortunate no contest against Victor Henry at UFC 294 in October 2023 due to an accidental low blow by “The Snow Leopard”. Basharat then suffered the only defeat of his career, losing by unanimous decision to Ayeman Zahabi in March of this year.
Meanwhile, Gutierrez lost to Pedro Munoz and Song Yadong after winning a unanimous decision over Heiri Araten last year. Prior to that, “El Guapo” was undefeated in eight fights since losing his UFC debut to Raoni Barcelos in 2018.
