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Nasrat Haqparast will still compete this Saturday, but he has a new opponent.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that Haqparast will now face former Combate Americas lightweight champion Rafa Garcia at UFC Vegas 21. The event takes place at UFC APEX and will stream on ESPN+. Milenio was first to report the new booking.
Garcia replaces Don Madge, who was forced out of the bout due to visa issues which he revealed on Instagram this past Friday.
Haqparast got back in the win column in his most recent appearance with a unanimous decision nod over Alex Munoz at UFC Vegas 6 in August. Prior to that, the 25-year-old had a three-fight winning streak snapped by Drew Dober via first-round knockout at UFC 246. Haqparast is 4-2 in his six promotional appearances.
UFC lightweight Rafael dos Anjos says he is open to fighting Islam Makhachev but there is a special condition that needs to be met first.
Dos Anjos and Makhachev were supposed to meet back at UFC 254 in October and then at a UFC Fight Night card in November, but the fight was postponed and eventually scratched. Dos Anjos instead fought Paul Felder and beat him by split decision, while Makhachev returned to the Octagon this past Saturday at UFC 259, defeating Drew Dober via third-round submission.
With RDA a top-10 ranked fighter and with Makhachev quickly climbing the ranks following the win over Dober, the Russian has been seen on social media calling out the Brazilian, but so far we haven’t heard RDA’s side accept the fight until now.
Islam Makhachev wants to help Tony Ferguson retire
March 9, 2021
After Islam Makhachev’s dominant performance that ended in a third-round submission victory over Drew Dober at UFC 259 via arm-triangle choke, the Dagestani lightweight pondered what could be next.
Makhachev is the training partner and protege of UFC lightweight champion and all-time great Khabib Nurmagomedov. In a perfect world, Makhachev would like to face an elusive rival of his close friend.
“My dream fight is Tony [Ferguson] because we have some deal with him, like a couple years now,” he said at the UFC 259 post-fight press conference.
Makhachev’s reference to his camp’s dealings with “El Cucuy” point to the five previously scheduled bouts between Ferguson and Nurmagomedov, which all fell apart in extremely unfortunate fashion.