Not the first or last time @Nasrat_mma
will be confused for @KelvinGastelum
#UFCVegas21 pic.twitter.com/I2rHGTIHwM— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)
March 13, 2021
Nasrat
Haqparast has been tabbed by many in the mixed martial arts
community as a prospect to watch at 155 pounds in the coming
years.
The 25-year-old Afghanistan native added to his resume on Saturday
night with a unanimous decision triumph over the
previously-unbeaten Rafa Garcia
in a preliminary affair at UFC Fight Night 187, giving him five
victories in seven outings with the Las Vegas-based promotion.
Garcia was a replacement opponent for Don Madge, who
was forced out of the fight due to visa issues.
“My team, we are always like this. When we get the name, it doesn’t
matter his record, doesn’t matter his experience, we always take
him very seriously,” Haqparast said. “He had nothing to lose. He
had five days’ notice, six days’ notice, stepped in … It was a good
experience also for me to fight a guy like this: tough, a little
bit shorter than me, in a smaller Octagon … It was a good
experience.”
Garcia was game throughout the fight, but Haqparast gradually built
up an advantage as the bout progressed. When all was said and done,
the Tristar Gym representative had a 99-to-52 advantage in
significant strikes landed. Haqparast didn’t get a finish, but he
explained that a more cautious approach was necessary against an
opponent he didn’t know very well. He says headhunting cost him
dearly in the past when he suffered a first-round knockout loss to
Drew
Dober at UFC 246.
“Today my goal was to check him out in the first round. Even if I
just landed two jabs, I just wanted to check him out,” Haqparast
said. “He’s new, he doesn’t have a lot of footage. Imagine if I
just go in there wanting to impress people, swing and get a
knockout and then get caught. This is an unforgiving sport. My
corners told me to check him out, read him and in the second and
third round, you’re going to pick him apart. I think we did it. On
the Dober fight, I wanted to kill him … This really matured me this
performance and I look forward to the future.”
Haqparast is aware of the expectations that surround him, but he
knows he has a long way to go to reach his own lofty goals.
“To be honest, I’m a guy who doesn’t like to jump in the hype train
like saying I’m the next big thing,” Haqparast said. “I just want
to impress with my performance and I think I did today. I just love
to fight, it’s experience. For me, a finish is not that important
like 15 minutes of war, experience.
“I’m 25, it’s my [seventh] UFC fight. I want to gain a lot of
experience because, sooner or later, I’m going to get a title shot
and then I want to be ready for everything and not get surprised by
crazy situations. It was a good experience and I just want to keep
on fighting.”