UFC 271 gets a lightweight fight that is expected to deliver plenty of excitement.
You know a division is stacked when a matchup this good is between two unranked fighters.
Following a report from Walter Salcido, MMA Fighting confirmed that lightweight veteran Bobby Green will take on Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 271 on February 12th in Houston, Texas. Haqparast had been set to take on John Makdessi at UFC Vegas 48 on February 19th, but Makdessi was forced from that bout due to injury.
Green (28-12-1) is coming off a first-round TKO of Al Iaquinta at UFC 268 in November. The win snapped a two-fight losing skid against Alan Patrick and Rafael Fiziev, and it doubled as his first stoppage win since a uh… very debatable “body kick” TKO of James Krause way back in 2013.
Haqparast (13-4) lost a unanimous decision to Dan Hooker at UFC 266 last September, ending a two-fight winning streak over Alex Munoz and Rafa Garcia. The 25-year-old debuted in the UFC back in 2017, losing to Marcin Held by decision, but a three-fight winning streak against Marc Diakiese, Thibault Gouti, and Joaquim Silva followed before a KO loss to Drew Dober in January 2020.
UFC 271 features a middleweight championship rematch between Israel Adesanya and former champion Robert Whittaker.