UFC star Javid Basharat prepares for bantamweight fight against Chris Gutierrez in Abu Dhabi … as “the Snow Leopard” tries to recover from his latest loss

• Javid Basharat will return to the Octagon at UFC Abu Dhabi.
• The bantamweight star will face Chris Gutierrez on Fight Night.
• Basharat suffered a unanimous point loss to Aiemann Zahabi

UFC star Javid Basharat will return to the Octagon next month when he faces Chris Gutierrez.

Basharat has not fought since his unanimous decision loss to Aiemann Zahabi in March, the first loss of his professional mixed martial arts career.

His previous fight against Victor Henry ended in a draw after Basharat accidentally kicked his opponent in the groin.

However, he will finally get the opportunity to get back on track when he faces Gutierrez at the highly anticipated UFC Abu Dhabi on August 3.

Basharat had previously been on a three-fight winning streak in the UFC following his debut in March 2022 before his last two fights put an end to that.

Meanwhile, Gutierrez also lost his last UFC fight, by unanimous decision against Song Yadong.

The focus of the evening is a decisive duel in the bantamweight division, in which the American Cory Sandhagen competes against the undefeated Russian Umar Nurmagomedov.

Abu Dhabi fans will probably be familiar with both fighters as they have fought in the emirate before.

The No. 2 seed Sandhagen has fought twice on Yas Island, earning awards both times: first, he delivered a performance of the night in 2020 when he defeated Marlon Moraes, and followed that up with a fight of the night a year later when he fought Petr Yan for the interim bantamweight title.

Nurmagomedov (17-0) has now won four fights after an impressive victory in his UFC debut and is considered one of the rising stars in the 135-pound class.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Yahya – the first Emirati to compete in the UFC – will also return to the Octagon on August 3 to face Brazilian Kaue Fernandes.

Yahya made history last year when he signed with the world’s largest mixed martial arts organization and made his debut in the United Arab Emirates capital in October.