Undefeated bantamweight sensation Farid Basharat wants to represent the people of Afghanistan when he collides with Parisian bruiser Taylor Lapilus as part of the upcoming UFC Vegas 84 fight card, scheduled for Sat., Jan. 13, 2024 at APEX in Las Vegas.
Unfortunately, he’ll need to do it without bringing the Afghani flag to the cage.
“I would love to walk out with the flag, but I don’t think they’re allowing the Afghanistan flag,” Basharat told MMA Fighting. “Not the Afghanistan flag. We tried in Abu Dhabi for [my brother] Javid, and they said no, because they don’t recognize the current government flag, and the old one is not an official flag. So what flag are you going to bring out? The Afghanistan flag is still a no-no.”
Walkout flags were previously banned, then unbanned, then banned again.
“Everybody’s too soft,” White UFC CEO Dana White said after Noche UFC. “Everybody’s too sensitive about everything. When the decision was made to do this, I was just like, ‘Eh, what’s the big deal if they don’t have flags?’ Mexican Independence Day flipped the switch, and I was like, ‘That’s enough of the no flags thing.’ Flags are back. If any flags hurt your feelings, too f—king bad.”
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