Mohammad Nasrat Haqparast was born on August 22, 1995, in Hamburg, Germany. He currently competes in the lightweight division of the UFC. The 26-year-old is globally ranked as the 24th Best Lightweight MMA fighter.
Nasrat Haqparast has achieved a rare feat of 8 knockouts in a row and hasn’t looked back since 2013. His exceptional talent did not go unnoticed for long as he was signed by the UFC in 2017.
Nasrat Haqparast was born to Afghan parents from Kandahar – the de facto capital of the Taliban regime, who fled war-torn Afghanistan to settle as refuges in Germany.
At the age of 14, Nasrat was sent to attend kickboxing classes as he was deemed overweight by his parents. His adulation towards MMA in particular, was instantly ignited after watching a sparring session in the room adjacent to his kickboxing class. At that moment his MMA journey began…
Whilst fighting in the UFC, he has achieved a Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night each.
With a clean record of 4-0 at We Love MMA – a German mixed martial arts series, Nasrat also had his talent acknowledged in other German MMA promotions, Ravage and Superior FC. He said, “On a fight day, it’s 0-0 in the cage. Just the moments count. A cat becomes a tiger, and a cat becomes a lion; everybody is hungry”!
Nasrat is trained by Tristar Gym head coach, Firas Zahabi, making his debut in the UFC against Marcin Held on October 21, 2017. Though he lost the match, he came back stronger to win his next three fights which earned him his prestigious Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night awards.
Unfortunately, Haqparast had to fly to Los Angeles to attend his mother’s funeral recently, last month in September. Amid the insurmountable loss he is still dedicated to fighting for the UFC.
He had made pleas on his Twitter account asking the U.S. Embassy in Frankfurt to arrange his visa sooner for his bout against Dan Hooker which went ahead at UFC 266 on September 25th, 2021 in Las Vegas.
So now you’ve got the backstory on the lightweight UFC fighter, let’s get into Nasrat Haqparast’s Top 5 MMA Finishes! (in descending order)
5. Vs. Lampros Pistikos – Ravage Series 2 (Feb. 20, 2016)
Nasrat Haqparast was riding high on his streak of 5 wins as he took on Greek debutant, Lampros Pistikos at Markthalle Hamburg convention center in Germany.
At the start of round 1, sensing the vulnerability of his opponent, Haqparast ran wild like a tiger going straight for his prey and at 0:40 went for a double leg takedown as the audience cheered. Lampros tried to defend by pulling Nasrat close to his body and grabbing his neck.
Nasrat proceeded to exact ruthless blows on Pistikos as he lay on the canvas. The rampant assault grew in fury with Nasrat throwing dozens of well-timed strikes to his opponent’s face as the latter seemed helpless, trapped in all directions.
This is where referee, Joerg Lothmann, hurriedly intervened to call the bout. Nasrat had won the match via KO punches at 3:36 of round 1.
4. Vs. Fabrice Kindombe – We Love MMA 16 (Oct. 10, 2015)
Fabrice Kindombe looked to be the most intimidating, and quickest fighter by far that Nasrat had ever faced until now in his pro MMA career.
To start off round 1, Kindombe marched forward with intense rage and propelled devastating blows upon Nasrat prompting him to go on the defense.
At 0:18, using the full leverage of his reach, Haqparast then landed two, ballistic left jabs to Kindombe’s face. It came as a major surprise seeing Haqparast’s valour explode as he clubbed Fabrice after a slow start.
Raising his game to the next level now, Nasrat was poised to cut into his prey, as out of nowhere, he landed a massive meaty left jab that could have broken Kindombe’s nose as he collapsed to the canvas.
As Nasrat finishes proceedings with ground and pound, the referee intervenes at 0:53 of round 1. Haqparast won the match via KO.
3. Vs. Patrik Berisha – We Love MMA 24 (Oct. 15, 2016)
At the start of round 1, the Swiss, Patrik Berisha, immediately goes after Nasrat as the duo clinch and grapple at the side of the cage. This saw knee striking from Berisha and a short-arm jab counter by Nasrat.
At 0:38 in, Berisha rushes Haqparast catching his kick mid flight only to miss a strong jab as Nasrat’s head dodges just in time.
Now, Nasrat turns the tables by brutally striking Berisha thence into a takedown and intensely coiling his left arm underneath his left shoulder whilst punishing him with hard-hitting knees and elbows to the temple.
At 3:05 into round 1, a double leg takedown by Nasrat got the audience cheering for the Afghan fighter as he stormed Patrik with a squall of heavy, left-right hooks leaving Berisha shell shocked after a grueling display of carnage.
In round 2, Patrik left his defenses open as he caught a Haqparast kick, only to taste a brutal, right hand jab to his nose which did the trick for Nasrat.
Nasrat then blasted his opponent with ground and pound as referee Steffen Ramlow hurriedly steps in to separate the fighters at 0:18 of round 2. Haqparast won the match via TKO.
2. Vs. Ruslan Kalyniuk – Superior FC 17 (May 20, 2017)
Draped in the Afghanistan national flag, Nasrat was set to take on the German fighter Ruslan Kalyniuk in this regional, German promotion held in the town of Düren, Germany.
Kalyniuk went all guns blazing on the Afghan fighter from the beginning of the match. Ruslan it seemed, was hell bent on silencing all the people chanting Nasrat’s name in the audience.
At 0:47 into round 1, the German went berserker mode throwing uppercuts on Nasrat’s face and body. Ruslan continued the attack as Nasrat kept biding his time in the corner. You could see he was ensuring as much distance as possible especially because his opponent was red-hot eager to finish the bout in a strike or two!
At 2:14 into round 1, Kalyniuk blasted Nasrat with a left-right combination and a mighty uppercut, however, Nasrat didn’t appear too perturbed by the assault. Nasrat, now sensing an opportunity for a takedown quickly closed the distance, grabbing Ruslan’s left thigh, and tossing him to the canvas.
Nasrat then mounted over to unleash vicious elbows from the top. The German tried to get to his feet only to get taken down again. With a minute to go in round 1, Kalyniuk tried to slip out, but to no avail as the cold-blooded assault of innumerable powerful jabs and elbows from Haqparast rained on the back of his head.
In round 2, Haqparast quickly capitalized with a takedown, whilst Kalyniuk was helpless against the recurrent attack of elbows striking his face next – which really looked lethal from the outside.
At 1:30 into the round, it was simply a surgical striking clinic, with absolutely no mercy from Haqparast as he landed jab after jab, raining iron bullets, and leveraging all the potential of his 5′ 10” (1.78 m) height on his opponent!
In round 3, Haqparast broke out one hell of a strike-fest on Kalyniuk, with the match finally ending at 1:44 of round 3. Haqparast won the match via TKO.
1. Vs. Joaquim Silva – UFC on ESPN 5 (Aug. 3, 2019)
Nasrat was now up against Brazilian fighter, Joaquim Silva on the lightweight UFC main card on ESPN 5. And, both fighters looked to be in the greatest shape of their lives.
In round 1, the combatants kept moving towards each other, looking to build momentum before firing rapid strikes. Silva intermittently attacked Nasrat’s shins with low leg kicks.
Haqparast appeared slow to react but was cunningly reading Silva’s mind, effectively intimidating him via bluff attacking maneuvers.
At 2:10 into round 1, Silva attempted a harsh back kick, to no avail as he loses his balance, falling on the canvas – which seemed to get quite a reaction from the crowd.
Nasrat irritated Silva by sticking close, but without throwing leather at all. Then a Haqparast left hand shot straight upon Silva’s face. Silva retaliated back with a strong, low kick to which the commentary team exclaimed, “OOUUCH”! They felt that one strongly
In the last minute of round 1, Haqparast was rearing to unleash the animal within inside the octagon, and catching a kick at 4:20 saw Haqparast go “berserker mode”, firing off a combination of left-right hooks straight to Silva’s face.
In round 2, Nasrat was poised as he knocked Silva to the ground with a meaty left punch. Then he followed up with vicious ground and pound to seal the fight’s fate as referee, Keith Peterson was super quick to stop Nasrat’s dangerous, trademark ground and pound sequence, at just 0:36 of round 2. Nasrat won the bout by KO.
This match is ranked the 96th Best MMA Knockout of the Year, 2019, winning a Performance of the Night bonus of $50,000. Later, in an interview Nasrat called out John Makdessi about some “unfinished business”. We shall wait and see…
