UFC 329 fight going ahead after late replacement found
Farid Basharat (who is a 15-0 bantamweight fighter and currently ranked #15 in the division) will still be able to fight on the UFC 329 card as a late replacement opponent has been found in John Garza (6-1). This was originally reported by Marcel Dorff on X, who wrote: “Farid Basharat got a new opponent. He takes on John Garza at 135 lbs at #UFC329/#IFW2026.“
Ethyn Ewing was set to face Basharat but had to pull out of the fight earlier this week, saying on Instagram (via Bloody Elbow): “I did sustain a detrimental injury about five weeks ago. It’s one that slowed the training. I was not able to spar hard. I had to work around it. I did everything I could to endure, and my mindset was always that I would go in there even if it was at 50 percent. Now, I have a great wise counsel around me, people who have my best interest in mind, and together we came to the conclusion that going in at 50 percent was not the smart decision and was not the right decision.
“There is no one who wanted to see me in that cage or to be in that cage more than myself. It was a hard decision. It really sucks. It’s not what I wanted by any means. But I think that there is a reason for it, there is a lesson to be learned, and I think the Lord has a greater plan.“
Who is fighting at UFC 329?
The fight card for the event now reads as follows:
- Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway
- Benoît Saint Denis vs. Paddy Pimblett
- Cory Sandhagen vs. Mario Bautista
- Brandon Royval vs. Lone’er Kavanagh
- King Green vs. Terrance McKinney
- Robert Whittaker vs. Nikita Krylov
- Gable Steveson vs. Elisha Ellison
- Cody Garbrandt vs. Adrian Yañez
- Luke Riley vs. Kai Kamaka III
- Tracy Cortez vs. Wang Cong
- Damian Pinas vs. César Almeida
- Ryan Gandra vs. Zachary Reese
- Alessandro Costa vs. Cody Durden
- Farid Basharat vs. John Garza
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