Watch: The funny moment UFC commentator Brendan Fitz 'mistook' Nasrat Haqparast for Kevin Gastelum
A rather hilarious moment served as one of the highlights of Nasrat Haqparast’s fight against Rafa Garcia at UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Muhammad (March 13th, 2021). UFC commentator Brendan Fitzgerald mistakenly referred to Haqparast as Kelvin Gastelum during the fight.
The MMA world is quite familiar with the fact that Nasrat Haqparast and Kelvin Gastelum do indeed look eerily similar to one another. Both Haqparast and Gastelum, on their part, have often joked about this resemblance.
The UFC has now put forth a tweet, featuring the moment during the Nasrat Haqparast vs. Rafa Garcia matchup when Brendan Fitzgerald calls ‘Haqparast’ ‘Gastelum’. Additionally, the UFC has also tweeted out a photo of Haqparast and Gastelum posing together. Fans can check out both tweets below –
Nasrat Haqparast entered tonight’s UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Muhammad matchup, coming off a unanimous decision win over Alexander Munoz whom he’d defeated in August 2020. Haqparast, a bright prospect in the UFC lightweight division, seemed primed to make a statement against Garcia and continue his winning ways.
And that’s exactly what the German fighter of Afghan origin did, as he defeated Garcia via unanimous decision.
On the other hand, Nasrat Haqparast’s lookalike, UFC middleweight contender Kelvin Gastelum, secured a brilliant win over Ian Heinisch at UFC 258 in February 2021. With his win over Heinisch, Gastelum snapped a three-fight losing streak and now aims to work his way back to a shot at the UFC middleweight title.
Nasrat Haqparast is a young talent with his sights set on UFC gold
25-year-old Nasrat Haqparast is widely regarded as one of the top prospects in the sport of MMA today. Haqparast trains under revered MMA coach Firas Zahabi at the world-renowned Tristar Gym in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Haqparast recently suffered one of the biggest setbacks in his MMA career – a first-round KO loss against Drew Dober at UFC 246 in January 2020. Nevertheless, he managed to bounce back from the loss, with wins over Alexander Munoz and now Rafa Garcia.
The UFC lightweight division is a shark tank of talented fighters – who are all so evenly matched that many believe a fighter in the top-20 could very well give the top-5 a run for their money on a given day.
This is the division Nasrat Haqparast currently finds himself in, and needless to say, his fans and followers around the world have high hopes from the youngster moving forward.