The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s next trip to
Australia is jam-packed with local talent.
On Thursday,
MMA Junkie broke the news that Nasrat
Haqparast (14-5) will take on Jamie
Mullarkey (15-5) at
UFC 284. The two lightweights will battle it out at the RAC
Arena in Perth, Australia, on Feb. 11. Both
Haqparast and Mullarkey
subsequently confirmed their appearances at the event on their
respective Instagram pages.
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Born in Germany to Afghan parents and currently representing
Morocco, Haqparast concluded his first winless streak in September
by taking a decision over John
Makdessi. The victory reversed his fortune after two straight
decision losses to Dan Hooker
and Bobby Green
in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Each of the last five outings for
Haqparast have seen the final judges’ scorecards, but prior to
that, he had sparked Joaquim
Silva early in the second round only to get blasted by Drew Dober in
70 seconds a few months later.
Australia native Mullarkey also bounced back from a loss this year,
snagging a
contentious split decision over Michael
Johnson that a majority of scoring media members thought
Johnson had won. Winner in three of his last four, before a March
knockout to Jalin
Turner, Mullarkey put Khama
Worthy and Devonte
Smith away with strikes in a solid 2021 campaign.
The UFC posts up in Perth, Australia, on Feb. 11, taking over the
RAC Arena and filling it with fighters from the Oceanic region.
With 10 of 11 slated fights currently containing a competitor from
Australia or New Zealand, the pay-per-view will end with a champ
vs. champ superfight as featherweight king Alexander
Volkanovski moves up to challenge Islam
Makhachev for the 155-pound throne. With Volkanovski leaving
the division for some time, the UFC has put up the interim
featherweight crown on the line at this event as well, with
Yair
Rodriguez and Josh Emmett
vying for the official, gold-belted no. 1 contender position.