Unbeaten UFC bantamweight Javid Basharat is plotting an attack on the promotion's top 15 much sooner than most other prospects his age.
The likes of Paddy Pimblett and Sean O'Malley have taken the slow burn approach on their way to the top, taking on a series of lesser opponents before gradually building to the big names. But after earning himself a UFC contract on Dana White's Contender Series last year, Basharat faced Trevin Jones in a difficult test.
Now, he takes on promotional veteran Tony Gravely in a bout that could land him just underneath the rankings after less than a year in the UFC. Gravely has half as many fights in the promotion as Basharat has in his entire career, and has won four of them only losing to Brett Johns and Nate Maness.
"A lot of people are saying it's a bit too early, maybe too soon," he told Mirror Fighting of tomorrow's match-up in an exclusive chat. "No other prospect is fighting these calibre of guys, I'm the only one doing this. But at the same time none of those prospects are on my level, I know I'm different to them.
"It's a good fight, it's a good progression fight for me too because I've had to focus a lot on my wrestling for this one and it's going to be a good night for me. I'm fighting super early so it's probably more like the afternoon but I can't wait to just get out there and perform because that's the only thing I get nervous about; not being able to perform.
"The thing I get excited for is being able to perform, but that's how it is before a fight. You put everything into this and sometimes in training you have those bad days and you go in there and you just had an off night. You never know, that could be fight night, which is why people love fighting because anything can happen."
Basharat has yet to taste defeat as a professional, with his biggest career battle being getting fights. This is an issue that has persevered through his move to the UFC, who have hundreds of athletes under contract, as he struggled to get the quick turnaround from his March debut.
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He was due to appear on the UFC's return to London in July, but claims that he couldn't get matched, and is happy to now have a fight in Gravely. "I'm that guy," he insisted. "I'm not stupid, I know my worth too, but I feel like I'm not out of my depth in these fights.
"I'm a top challenger in this division, I just don't have a ranking by my name. I was very disappointed with how my career was going before, I wasn't getting the match-ups that I wanted and I had terrible people around me who weren't able to get me those fights, they didn't trust or believe in me like that and fight for me.
"Now that my career is in better people's hands I'm ready for whatever they feel is necessary. They give me the confidence and they know the calibre too. My brother just got signed to the UFC this week and we really had no blueprint for our career, we had to do it all ourselves.
"Now we're here and that's why I'm taking all of these fights, all good fighters because I know my calibre and I want to prove it. The longer these guys wait, I'm catching up. You're in your prime at 30-years-old, statistically, all the champs have the belt around then - I'm four years away from that."
Javid Basharat faces Tony Gravely during the prelims of UFC Fight Sandhagen vs Yadong from Las Vegas tomorrow night. Fans can watch live on BT Sport 1 from 10pm.
