Brandon Fracassi-McDaniel knew the secret before practically anyone else.
For Fracassi-McDaniel, there’s a single moment in time 14 years ago that’s embedded in his memory.
An instructor at Warrior Way Martial Arts in Walled Lake, Mich., Fracassi-McDaniel took a bunch of his youth students to a tournament in the greater Detroit Area in 2010.
It was likely insignificant to those who witnessed. Some probably don’t even remember. But Fracassi-McDaniel has it pop into his mind from time to time.
“There was a young man that got bopped in the nose,” Fracassi-McDaniel recalled recently to MMA Junkie. “He had a bloody nose and was losing and devastated from the fact he was losing. He was stressed out about the match.”
The bloodied youngster wasn’t the first and definitely wasn’t the last, considering one of Fracassi-McDaniel’s own students had the same thing happen moments later.
Austin Bashi was 8 at the time. It was more than acceptable to cry, give up, or both. But Bashi had no reaction to the pain or the blood, other than concern about losing.
“Austin got cross-faced pretty hard, had a pretty good bloody nose,” Fracassi-McDaniel said. “He was most worried about them stopping the match – and he’s a kid. He’s 8 or 9 years old, and his whole concern was he wasn’t going to finish the match. That was his No. 1 priority, finishing that thing out.”
The sequence meant little as a standalone. But it was symbolic of the mentality that crafts a unique athlete. In 2024, the secret is out. By all accounts, Austin Bashi is special.
‘A promoter’s dream’
Promoter Matt Frendo simply struggles to find the words.
Frendo has become a staple of the Michigan fight scene over the past decade, heading his own promotion Lights Out Championship after matchmaking for then nationally-broadcasted XFC. Frendo promoted 11 of Bashi’s 12 professional fights and one of two amateur fights.
“He’s just such a unique … it’s so hard to describe him, other than just f*cking humble and hard-working and nice,” Frendo told MMA Junkie. “He’s the nicest kid I’ve ever met. I’ve never met a person in the industry like him.”
Frendo’s first impression of Bashi in early 2020 makes him chuckle a bit, but it’s engrained in his memory just like Fracassi-McDaniel with the bloody nose.
“He walked up to do check-ins and I thought for sure this kid was not old enough to fight,” Frendo recalled. “He was (5-foot-4), 124 pounds soaking wet with a softer, quieter voice. I told him, ‘I need to see your ID, bro. Because I don’t think you’re (old enough).’ Because in Michigan, you’ve got to be 18 years old to fight. I was like, ‘I need to see your sh*t because I don’t believe you’re 18, and you’re not getting me in trouble.’ I truly didn’t know he was of age.”
After Bashi’s amateur debut, Frendo struggled to find another opponent – foreshadowing of a theme that would continue for years.
“He was one of those unique cases in Michigan,” Frendo said. “You’re supposed to have five sanctioned fights before they let you go pro. He only had two. We could only find him one person who could fight him, and he had to go out of state for the other one. We just eventually wrote a letter to the state commission and asked for clearance to go pro and said we couldn’t find anybody else to fight him.”
Bashi was permitted to turn professional at age 18 after just his second amateur fight. Fast forward four years and Bashi T-shirt-clad fans lined the rows at Frendo’s shows. Bashi was an established box office draw by regional standards.
“The amount of tickets he sells, there’s nobody in Michigan that touches the number he was producing,” Frendo said. “There are plenty who do really well. It’s just that he sets the bar, for sure.”
As a professional, Bashi finished seven of 12 opponents and won the Lights Out bantamweight title. He holds wins over opponents with records of 6-1, 7-3, 8-1, 9-3, and 14-3.
There were multiple elements at play with matchmaking Bashi, explained Frendo. There were routine declinations and pullouts, but also Bashi’s team only wanted opponents who would challenge him in some facet.
For one booking, Frendo recalls specifically pursuing opponents who would play mind games with Bashi and test mental composure.
“I’m trying to find somebody who can talk sh*t to see if they can rattle him,” Frendo said with a laugh. “Joe Penafiel was the guy we brought in who was the big sh*t talker. He got into Austin’s face at weigh-ins and headbutted him. He almost broke his nose, saying the meanest sh*t to him you could ever imagine. Austin, he doesn’t swear back. He doesn’t talk sh*t back. He’s not going to back down. Don’t get me wrong. He’ll get back in your face if you push too far.”
For all of the nos Frendo has received over the years promoting, declinations don’t usually come because a fight is too easy. In a world full of fighters looking for opponents with upside records, Bashi has the opposite motivation.
“There were times he turned down guys who didn’t make much sense and tried to take tougher fights,” Frendo said. “He tried to fight Diego Manzur. He tried to fight Ricky Bandejas. Just like this Tommy (McMillen) guy, it gets close to the fight and they have life-threatening, career-threatening things. Then, all of a sudden, they’re popping up six months later fighting other guys. He always wanted to stay and make sure he was fully ready. He didn’t want to be one of those guys who rushes and barely squeaks in on Contender Series and then he starts getting fed to people. He wanted to make sure he was really ready.”
Waiting for the right time
At 22, Bashi has a 12-0 record and is on the UFC’s doorstep, with a Dana White’s Contender Series appearance Tuesday night vs. Dorian Ramos (8-2).
The opportunity wasn’t the first Bashi has been presented. The UFC inquired about DWCS, “The Ultimate Fighter,” and short-notice call-ups in the past.
“It was always about getting experience and experience against tough opponents,” Bashi told MMA Junkie. “If you go look at my resume, everyone almost that I’ve fought was very, very tough. The only people that I fought with shady records were if my original opponent would back out and you needed me to fight a different guy. Other than that, my whole entire career, I’ve fought good, tough competition. Now with 12 fights, I feel like I’m ready.”
Fracassi-McDaniel, alongside fellow Warrior Way coaches Matee Jedeepitak and Angelo Popofski, said no until it was the right time to say yes. As difficult and rare as it is to turn down UFC inquiries that many see as golden tickets, the coaching staff felt patience would pay off.
“We have some good friends of ours who went to the UFC, and I believe they went too early,” Fracassi-McDaniel said. “They never really got to have their potential be shown in a really great way. I didn’t want that for Austin. So it’s super important for me and the other coaches that it wasn’t about getting there. It was about staying there. That was always our mindset.”
The one person not buying into the hype
Calls for the UFC to sign him are unavoidable, through social media and interviews. Bashi might be the most highly-touted regional prospect in MMA right now.
While everyone is caught up in the hype, Bashi isn’t among them.
“The second he’s done winning a fight, it means almost nothing to him,” Fracassi-McDaniel said. “He’s on to the next goal. He never lets it get to his head, and he never is too good to learn from someone or elevate himself. He doesn’t believe he’s a big deal.”
Now that the time has arrived, Bashi will still stick to his same values: hard work, humility, focus, and professionalism. In the age of fighters exchanging death threats to sell fights, Bashi’s selling point will be fighting, not talking.
“He’s not a character,” Fracassi-McDaniel said. “He’s not trying to be this social media star. He’s literally there to be the best martial artist and prove it. He’s a wholesome, refreshing individual in the crazy of MMA.”
Bashi confirmed he has no intent of changing, “A lot of people try to switch up how they act. Me, I’m the same person. I go in there and get the job done and remain humble.”
Both Fracassi-McDaniel and Frendo attribute Bashi’s character to a tight-knit family. Bashi’s brother, Avan, inspired his MMA career and is a talented fighter himself, though injuries knocked him out of action.
“(Austin) has done so much for so many people and invested in so many people that there’s an army of people who would do anything for him in return,” Fracassi-McDaniel said.
Loyalty is clearly a foundation of Bashi’s personality.
“He’s going to get a contract on Tuesday,” Frendo said. “He’s not the guy who’s going to be like, ‘Oh sh*t, I’ve got to go to American Top Team to train with the best guys in the world.’ The gym he’s at will be the gym he’s at when he dies. With his same people. With his same crew. The loyalty all those guys have is something. There’s not a lot of loyalty in MMA. It’s hard to find. This group of guys is like the epitome of what most people really want – and is almost impossible to find.”
Bashi confirmed he’s a Warrior Way lifer, “I’m very blessed for the team that I come from. They’ve raised me since I was a kid. I started training with them since I was eight years old. Fourteen years later, I’m with the same exact coaches and the same exact team. … I’ll be with them until the day I die.”
The journey has been long. Bashi has spent eight to 10 hours each day in the gym, nearly every day since he started competing. His social life has been sacrificed. But Bashi expects it all to pay dividends.
“I just take it one fight at a time,” Bashi said. “All I’m thinking about right now is Tuesday. Of course, what I’m thinking is the climb to the top, the climb to UFC gold. That’s what I see.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s even t hub for DWCS 70.
