Dan Hooker scheduled to fight Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 266

UFC lightweight contender Dan Hooker is set to take on a rising contender Nasrat Haqparsat at UFC 266 which takes place on September 25.

UFC lightweight brawler Dan Hooker missed the action for nearly 8 months and now will be back taking on a rising fighter in Nasrat Haqparsat. BJPenn.com was the one to report that Hooker will meet Nasrat Haqparast on September 25. Hooker vs Haqparast will be a part of the UFC 266 card inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dan Hooker last fought at UFC 257 against former three-time Bellator MMA lightweight champion and UFC newcomer Michael Chandler. From the moment the bell ring, Dan was missing a beat and wasn’t looking like his usual. Michael Chandler was pressing forwards and stalking Dan which eventually led to Chandler landing a vicious left hook that sent Dan to the ground and Chandler finished him with follow-up shots.

After the fight, Hooker removed his fighting gloves and left them in the ring indicating that this was maybe his last fight. But in the following week, he revealed that he did that just in the heat of the moment and he is not finished fighting yet. Hooker is 3-2 in the last 5 fights and is coming off back-to-back losses against top contenders Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler. His last win was a controversial decision win against Paul Felder.

Nasrat started his UFC career with a loss and had a few early fights of his beings scrapped due to some reasons. He is 5-2 in his UFC career and is coming off back-to-back wins over rising up and comer fighters. This fight against Dan Hooker is a big step up for him as he will be facing a top contender and a win over Hooker will put him right in the middle of the mix of the already stacked lightweight division.

In his last fight, Haqparast was scheduled to face Don Madge, replacing injured Guram Kutateladze, at UFC Fight Night 187. However, Madge withdrew from the bout due to visa issues and was replaced by UFC newcomer Rafa Garcia. Nasrat defeated him via unanimous decision.

UFC 266 card will be headlined by the featherweight title fight between the champion Alexander Volkanovski defending his title against Brian Ortega. A UFC Women’s Flyweight Championship bout between current champion Valentina Shevchenko and former Invicta FC Bantamweight Champion Lauren Murphy is supposed to be the co-headliner.

UFC 266 Card:

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