Nasrat Haqparast draws Arman Tsarukyan this weekend at UFC 257

Nasrat Haqparast draws Arman Tsarukyan this weekend at UFC 257

We’ve got a very exciting lightweight match up coming to us this weekend at UFC 257, as Nasrat Haqparast and Arman Tsarukyan battle it out in the preliminary main event.

Both of these talents have such a bright future ahead of them, and they’ve already acquired some stellar performances thus far into their young careers.

Nasrat Haqparast (12-3) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (15-2)

Nasrat HaqparastWe first got notice of Nasrat Haqparast back in 2017, where he made his UFC debut against Marcin Held. He came into the bout with a record of 8-2, and though he lost the fight via unanimous decision, he did show a lot of promise.

Haqparast then went on a three-fight win streak, defeating the likes of Marc Diakiese (UD), Thibault Gouti (UD), and Joaquim Silva (KO), bringing his record to 11-2, before suffering his next defeat.

That next defeat would come to fellow knockout artist, and fellow former kickboxer Drew Dober, where Haqparast was KO’d just 70 seconds into round one. Haqparast rebounded from this with a unanimous decision victory over Alexander Munoz in August 2020.

Arman Tsarukyan came to the UFC in April of 2019 with a record of 13-1, and was slated against Islam Makhachev. That’s one of the hardest opponents someone could get for their UFC debut, and though he lost the fight via unanimous decision, he did look good throughout the bout, even winning a round against Makhachev.

Tsarukyan rebounded from this with back-to-back unanimous decision victories over Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Davi Ramos, the latter of the two happening in July of 2020. That brings us up to date on both of these young guns.

The beautiful thing about both of these young talents is the fact that Haqparast is only 25-years-old, and Tsarukyan is just 24 himself. We have quite some time before either of them are at their very best, and as good as they already are, it’s incredibly exciting.

Of Haqparast’s 12 victories, nine come via knockout with three decisions, while of Tsarukyan’s 15 victories, five come via knockout, five come via submission, and five come via decision. Talk about a well rounded talent.

Who do you see winning this epic preliminary main event at UFC 257?

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Brady Ordway
I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!