Dan
Hooker will square off against Nasrat
Haqparast in a lightweight duel at
UFC 266.
The pairing was announced during the UFC on ESPN 29 broadcast on
Saturday night. UFC 266 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las
Vegas on Sept. 25 and is headlined by a featherweight championship
clash between Alexander
Volkanovski and Brian
Ortega. Hooker vs. Haqparast is slated for the preliminary
portion of the card.
Hooker will look to snap a two-bout skid after falling to Michael
Chandler via first-round TKO at UFC 257 and losing to Dustin
Poirier by unanimous decision in the UFC on ESPN 12 main event.
Prior to that, “The Hangman” had been victorious in seven of his
last eight promotional appearances, with notable victories over the
likes of Paul Felder,
Al
Iaquinta, Gilbert
Burns and Jim
Miller.
Haqparast, meanwhile, enters the pairing with victories in five of
his last six outings. The 25-year-old Tristar Gym representative
was able to rebound from a KO loss to Drew Dober at
UFC 246 with back-to-back decision triumphs over Alex Munoz
and Rafa
Garcia.