"What a journey - I'm ready!" - Nasrat Haqparast secures US visa for UFC 266; will have less than 24 hours to make weight

Nasrat Haqparast obtains US visa to fight Dan Hooker at UFC 266 [Left image credit: @Nasrat_mma via Twitter]

The UFC 266 lightweight bout between Dan Hooker and Nasrat Haqparast is finally on. Hasqparast has managed to obtain his US visa with only a couple of days remaining before the fight.

ESPN's Brett Okamoto first reported the news after hearing from Nasrat Haqparast's manager Ali Abdelaziz.

Nasrat has obtained visa and booked his flight per his manager Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00).

Haqparast will be flying from Frankfurt, Germany to Las Vegas, USA on Thursday afternoon. He will have less than 24 hours to make weight, Brett Okamoto added.

Nasrat Haqparast (@Nasrat_mma) has obtained his visa to travel to US for UFC 266. What a wild story. He will fly from Germany to Vegas tomorrow, land in the afternoon, less than 24 hours to make weight. His opponent Dan Hooker (@danthehangman) went through same thing. Just wild.

Ali Abdelaziz also tweeted about the same, thanking the UFC legal team for making the fight possible.

I want to thank the @ufc legal team. Gina and sean for keeping the fight together and pushing Really hard for the paperwork to make the fight happen. @Nasrat_mma vs hooker is on!

Nasrat Haqparast himself has been keeping fans updated on the status of his paperwork via Twitter. After his US visa was finalized, he sent out a tweet thanking the UFC, the US Consulate of Frankfurt, and the Consul General for all the support.

Thank you to the @ufc and all the people involving for my last minute visa ! Thank you to the @usconsfrankfurt and Consul General Scharpf and the visa unit. What a journey - I’m READY !!! Kickdown Las Vegas 🔥🔥 #UFC266 @AliAbdelaziz00 @seanshelby

An hour later, Nasrat Haqparast posted a picture of himself at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. He reassured his fans that his passport and visa have been picked up and he would be hitting the scale for UFC 266 in 32 hours.

Passport and visa picked up ✅ Las Vegas we’re coming ! Weigh ins in 32 hours ! #UFC266 https://t.co/WTWNjSYB7y

Despite losing his mother to cancer earlier this week, Nasrat Haqparast is ready to compete at UFC 266 on Saturday, September 25 against Dan Hooker. He flew to Germany for his mother's funeral, but traveling back to the USA proved difficult because of a backlog in visa processing, as per the U.S. Embassy website.

Nasrat Haqparast took to Twitter to get the attention of the US Consulate and it seems like the tactic worked.

Nasrat Haqparast's opponent Dan Hooker faced similar visa issues

Despite being a preliminary card fight, the Dan Hooker vs. Nasrat Haqparast lightweight bout has turned into quite the story. This is because of the struggle both the fighters had to go through to make it to the fight. Before Haqparast had to fly back to Germany and face visa issues, it was Dan Hooker who had difficulty in obtaining permission to travel to the USA.

Dan Hooker shared with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that he was told by the Consulate two days before his flight that they would not be able to process his visa until the end of next week. Following the phone call, Dan Hooker got on MMA Twitter as a last resort to directly address Kevin Covert, the acting U.S. ambassador to New Zealand.

@USAmbNZ Hi Kevin, apologies for messaging on here but it's a last resort.

My visa is with the US embassy here in NZ as I fight next week in Las Vegas on #UFC266

Update today is it won't be approved until next week due to lock down which will cancel my fight. Please help. 🙏

'Hangman' received a tremendous amount of support from fans and fellow fighters online, including his CKB teammate, and UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya. Everyone getting behind Dan Hooker made the US Consulate change their mind and his application got processed in time.

What a story. Dan Hooker gets his visa, will fly out later this week from NZ to Vegas. Fights on Saturday. twitter.com/danthehangman/…