Javid Basharat’s journey from refugee to UFC fighter is a testament to grit and hardshipBasharat fled from a war-torn Afghanistan as a five-year-old child before relocating to Britain where he found his love for MMA.Basharat found his love for MMA following a tough time in schoolgettyHe is looking to bounce back from defeat in MarchgettyThe 29-year-old experienced a complete culture shock starting school, referring to his environment as ‘feeling like a prison’ when he slowly began adapting to his new surroundings.Now, ‘The Snow Leopard’ from the Paktia Province in eastern Afghanisation, along with his brother Farid, is a respected UFC fighter, with ambitions of becoming his country’s first champion.“As a child you don’t understand how tough the life is that you’re living because you’re only a kid,” told talkSPORT.com.“And that’s why people say that your parents are your superheroes because they kind of take all that heat off for you.“I didn’t really feel like: ‘Oh, I’ve a tough life type of thing,’ I’m just a kid, I didn’t know any better – just what was in front of me.”Basharat contests his seventh bout in Dana White’s promotion this weekend, having won his first four, before suffering the first defeat of his career last March.Henry Cejudo and Song Yadong headline the card at UFC Seattle on Saturday night, with a debut in store for Julius Walker who fights Alonzo Menifield.His younger brother Farid is undefeated in pro MMA, having last claimed a victory on the undercard of Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway’s headline bout at UFC 308 in October.When Basharat first came to England, he knew his life was safer, but it didn’t feel any better as he didn’t know the language.He struggled with waking up early to go to school as his family didn’t have a car and he would have to walk for miles on end every single day as a young child.The Snow Leopard boasts a pro MMA record of 14-1getty“Then they took me in and my parents had to go home. I was like: ‘Wait, I’m stuck now.’ It felt like a prison,” Basharat added.“Stuck in a place where I don’t know the language. Completely different culture shock. Everybody looks different to me, it was crazy. “And you can imagine when you’re there, kids are not the nicest people. So what are you gonna do? “The only form of communication was either fighting or shaking hands. So a lot of either shaking hands or fighting!“That was kind of my introduction to mixed martial arts.”Basharat was involved in many scuffles at school, so his father insisted that he and his younger brother take up Taekwondo to let off some steam.Basharat takes on Ricky Simon at UFC Seattle on Saturday nightgettyDvalishvili is the current champion of Basharat’s divisionGettyFrom there, the brothers’ interest in MMA grew as they began to wonder how they would fare against the best boxers and grapplers in the world.“Then, when we saw the UFC that they mix everything it was like: ‘Oh man, that’s a no-brainer. It was a natural transition,” ‘The Snow Leopard’ concluded.Fast forward over 20 years and the Basharat brothers are fighting in MMA’s biggest league.Basharat has occasionally rubbed shoulders with billionaire UFC President White, who he described as ‘the best promoter in the world’.He wants at least two more fights this year after his bantamweight bout with Ricky Simon this weekend.After that, Basharat wants to push into the UFC’s top 15 bantamweight rankings, and fancies himself against the very best in the division, which is currently ruled by Merab Dvalishvili.