Lightweights
Nasrat Haqparast (15-5, 7-4 UFC) vs. Jamie Mullarkey (17-6, 5-4 UFC)Lightweight vets look for a much-needed impressive performance in this pairing. Haqparast came to the UFC at 22 years old, and despite dropping his promotional debut to Marcin Held in 2017, hopes were high that he could become a lightweight contender. A look at his regional film showed a standout athlete who was improving rapidly from fight to fight. Indeed, Haqparast was taking apart fellow top prospect Marc Diakiese less than a year later, showing off a much-improved striking game that looked ready to compete at a high level. Haqparast racked up three straight wins before his overconfidence got him quickly knocked out by Drew Dober in 2020, and his career has been surprisingly stagnant in the years since. Haqparast is still tremendously gifted and able to do a lot of things, but he has never evolved past relying on his natural talent to see him through. Since losing to Dober, his wins are never as clean as they should be on paper, and his losses have seen fringe contenders quickly freeze him out of the fight. His September win over Landon Quinones was an encapsulation of Haqparast’s issues. It was a clear decision victory, but Haqparast unnecessarily absorbed a lot of offense against a late-notice newcomer he figured to dominate. At any rate, Haqparast has another chance to show some long-overdue evolution against Mullarkey, who continues to plug along in the middle of a deep lightweight division.
Australia’s Mullarkey has some solid size for a 155-pounder, but he is a negative athlete past that, forcing him to cycle through some different options in order to impact his fights. Initially more of a straight-ahead brawler, Mullarkey pivoted to a more wrestling-heavy approach in recent appearances. After getting knocked out by Muhammad Naimov in June, Mullarkey’s most recent fight was more of a range striking affair that might have only worked against John Makdessi, one of the shortest fighters in the division. Haqparast does tend to find one or two big moments of offense per round against all but his best competition, and his athletic advantages figure to make that the case in this one. Even if Haqparast’s performance is not all that inspiring in the process, it would be a surprise if Mullarkey was able to effectively neutralize him for 15 minutes. The pick is Haqparast via decision.
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Song vs. Gutierrez
Rountree vs. Smith
Elliott vs. Mudaerji
Haqparast vs. Mullarkey
Park vs. Muniz
Jousset vs. Song
The Prelims