Preview: UFC 271 ‘Adesanya vs. Whittaker 2’

Lightweights

NR | Bobby Green (28-12-1, 9-7-1 UFC) vs. NR | Nasrat Haqparast (13-4, 5-3 UFC)

ODDS: Green (-140), Haqparast (+120)

Few prospects in recent memory have been as frustrating as Haqparast. That is in part because of the expectations that Haqparast himself set with his performances earlier in his career. Just 22 years old when he signed in 2017, the Afghan-German was improving tremendously from fight to fight on the regional scene and started his UFC career accordingly, putting in a strong showing against Marcin Held before authoring a dominant win over Marc Diakiese. From there, Haqparast has generally stagnated. He still wins much more than he loses based on his natural skill, but he remains inconsistent as far as how much and when he decides to ramp up things, particularly after overconfidence led to a first-round knockout loss against Drew Dober in 2020. Much has been made of Haqparast’s physical resemblance to Kelvin Gastelum, but it is frankly a bit uncanny that some of “The Ultimate Fighter 17” winner’s problems with consistently applying his natural talent also seem to be true of his lightweight doppleganger. At any rate, Haqparast’s last fight against Dan Hooker was either a sign of progress or a sign for worry. Haqparast did at least seem mindful of what his opponent could do but struggled to turn that into any effective offense, instead putting in a low-output affair that led to a clear decision loss. UFC matchmakers have not done Haqparast any favors as he searches for a rebound win, as he is pitted against a peaking Green.

Green has been one of the unlikely breakout stars of this pandemic era of the UFC, as his career looked snakebitten prior to 2020. Already a well-traveled and well-regarded veteran before he came over to the UFC via Strikeforce, Green got out to a hot start in his UFC career, capping 2014 with a win over Josh Thomson. Then came a loss to Edson Barboza and what was essentially five years in the wilderness for the former King of the Cage champion. Injuries kept Green consistently out of action, and his defensively slick and counter-heavy style cost him a lot of narrow fights on the scorecards. However, everything shockingly converged for Green to have a breakout 2020 campaign. Taking advantage of the chaotic nature of the UFC’s booking plans, Green stepped in as often as possible and racked up win after win. In terms of results, things did eventually slow a little with losses to Thiago Moises and Rafael Fiziev. However, the Fiziev fight was one of the best bouts of the year, and Green followed it with an impressive shellacking of Al Iaquinta in November. Perhaps Green can bring out the best in Haqparast, but even if the Tristar Gym rep comes out firing on all cylinders, this does seem like a terrible stylistic matchup for the talented prospect. Green’s evasiveness means that Haqparast probably needs to rely on something beyond his hand speed, given that he is likely to get countered hard every time he throws. Add in that Green has the durability edge, and this pairing basically necessitates that Haqparast needs to find a new level to his technical depth—and fast. If any prospect at 155 pounds has enough talent to do so, he might be the one. Nevertheless, the pick is Green via decision.

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