[autotag]Bobby Green[/autotag] continues to build his reputation as a fighter willing to take on any challenger at any time.
With John Makdessi injured and out of their Feb. 19 matchup, [autotag]Nasrat Haqparast[/autotag] (13-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC) will shift back one week and compete against Green (28-12-1 MMA, 13-8-1 UFC) at UFC 271, which takes place Saturday, Feb. 12 at Toyota Center in Houston.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. The bout was first reported by combat sports writer Walter Salcido.
Green most recently competed at UFC 268 in November when he finished former lightweight title challenger Al Iaquinta with punches in Round 1 of their preliminary card bout. The win snapped a two-fight losing skid for the fan-favorite Green.
Haqparast, a Germany-born fighter, has split his last four appearances. After a defeat to Drew Dober in January 2020, Haqparast won back-to-back unanimous decisions against Alexander Munoz and Rafa Garcia. He most recently competed at UFC 266 in September when he lost a unanimous decision to Dan Hooker.
With the change, the UFC 271 lineup includes:
- Champ Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker – for middleweight title
- Derek Brunson vs. Jared Cannonier
- Kyler Phillips vs. Marcelo Rojo
- Roxanne Modafferi vs. Casey O’Neill
- Alex Perez vs. Matt Schnell
- Mark Madsen vs. Vinc Pichel
- Fabio Cherant vs. Carlos Ulberg
- Maxim Grishin vs. Ed Herman
- Ronnie Lawrence vs. Mana Martinez
- Alexander Hernandez vs. Renato Moicano
- AJ Dobson vs. Jacob Malkoun
- Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. Sergey Morozov
- Orion Cosce vs. Mike Mathetha
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqvpne7c1q486dvv player_id=01eqvpqbw4ymnv0rjh image=https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]