Red-hot lightweight Esteban Ribovics returned to action at UFC Vegas 103, looking to build off his ‘Fight of the Night’ showing at Noche UFC in a fight with Nasrat Haqparast.
Haqparast, for his part, was on quite the run with four straight victories inside the UFC octagon. He was a slight underdog with many odds-makers, but didn’t show it in the fight.
Ribovics took advantage of the open stance matchup, throwing a couple heavy kicks in the opening minute. Haqparast tripled his jab and landed a clean left straight that drew a smile from the Argentinian. Haqparast, who was mostly boxing, landed another nice left that bust Ribovics’ lip. The Argentinian kept throwing a couple shots thinking it would force Haqparast to keep his guard up, but the Moroccan punished those sequences with left hands over the top. Ribovics showed his durability as Nasrat’s left hand couldn’t seem to miss. Good first round from the underdog.
Not unlike the opening round, the second round’s first minute from saw high levels of activity from both fighters. As Ribovics was expecting a left hand, Haqparast snuck a right hook around his guard. Nasrat was doing a good job catching a lot of Ribovics’ shots to the head. As Ribovics kept head hunting, Dominick Cruz on the commentary team kept mentioning that he could use to go to the body. The Argentinian may have hoped that his Holloway-esque activity level would force Haqparast to slow down, but the Moroccan kept up with Ribovics’ output and was winning most of the exchanges. A close, competitive round that I thought Haqparast edged out in real time.
Both fighters came out firing on all cylinders, perhaps not trusting the judging. Haqparast started to intercept Ribovics’ constant forward-moving pressure with elbows. A short left hook from ‘El Gringo’ tagged Haqparast, which was then followed up with a knee that the Moroccan somehow ate, though he was wearing the damage. As Ribovics was starting to find momentum, Nasrat shot a takedown that allowed him to recover and burn some precious time off the clock. Once he got up, Ribovics went right back on the offense, but Nasrat was standing his ground and throwing with him. Ribovics was now able to stuff the laboured takedown attempts from Haqparast. He ended the round with a head kick that wobbled the Moroccan as time went out. A clear round for the fighter out of Argentina.
With two fights remaining on the card, this was now the clear favourite for ‘Fight of the Night’. The two fighters embraced once the decision was read, clearly having left a part of themselves in that cage. Now on a 5-fight winning streak, Haqparast can probably expect his first shot at the rankings since facing Dan Hooker in September of 2021. Knowing this, he called out Renato Moicano.
Official Result: Nasrat Haqparast def. Esteban Ribovics by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
