Preview: UFC Vegas 103 ‘Kape vs. Almabayev’

Lightweights

Esteban Ribovics (14-1, 3-1 UFC) vs. Nasrat Haqparast (17-5, 9-4 UFC)

ODDS: Ribovics (-278), Haqparast (+225)

After coming out on top of one of the best fights of 2024, Ribovics finally gets his return assignment here. The latest hard-charging fighter out of Argentina, Ribovics has essentially made a career out of being unkillable. Both his UFC debut loss to Loik Radzhabov and win over Kamuela Kirk saw him get outwrestled early and stage an eventual comeback, and after breaking things up with a quick win over Terrance McKinney, he pulled much the same trick against Daniel Zellhuber in September. That fight was the clear highlight of the UFC’s debut at the Sphere. Zellhuber started off well until Ribovics’ eventual comeback resulted in a Round 3 that was about as crazy as fights get, ending with the Argentinian walking away with the narrow decision victory. It would be nice if Ribovics got a major spot coming off that performance rather than a spot at the UFC Apex, but the good news is that Haqparast should make for another fun pairing.

Haqparast came to the UFC as an elite prospect in 2017, if only because he showed an impressive ability to add skills to his game from fight to fight, even in his teenage years and early 20s. That makes it a bit amusing where Haqparast has ended up, as at a certain point he plateaued hard, to the degree that his reputation is now as an elite talent who hasn’t really maximized his considerable skill. Haqparast has typically been able to get by through trading with opponents without much thought to what they bring to the table, but losses to Dan Hooker and Bobby Green seem like they should have pushed him into some sort of adjustment. Instead, he’s as straightforward as ever. Haqparast is talented enough that he’s still riding a four-fight winning streak, though victories over John Makdessi and Landon Quinones were much tougher than they had any right to be. Ribovics’ own hard-nosed approach and durability might wind up being enough to outwork Haqparast over three rounds, but things might actually cut the other way here in terms of advantages. Ribovics himself doesn’t bring much to the table in terms of technical adjustments or defensive thoughtfulness, so he might just wind up dragging Haqparast into throwing a winning amount of output given that he will likely be able to land most of what he throws. As such, the lean is that Haqparast’s natural talents will see him through once again. The pick is Haqparast via decision.

Jump To »
Kape vs. Almabayev
Brundage vs. Marquez
Ribovics vs. Haqparast
Pinto vs. Lane
Gomis vs. Amil
Barlow vs. Patterson
The Prelims