Preview: UFC 321 Prelims

UFC 321 offers a sneaky lineup of prelims this Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, even if nothing particularly jumps off the page in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to the Middle East. The featured spot goes to an interesting lightweight matchup, as Nasrat Haqparast tries to extend his latest winning streak against an overachieving prospect in Quillan Salkilld. Meanwhile, Ikram Aliskerov takes on Jun Yong Park in a middleweight affair that should answer some questions about both men, and Mateusz Rebecki looks to continue his streak of “Fight of the Year” contenders against fellow lightweight Ludovit Klein. Deeper into the undercard, the clear standout pairing comes in the form of a featherweight showdown between underrated veteran Nathaniel Wood and once-beaten MMA Lab standout Jose Delgado, who attempts to build on his impressive breakout 2025 campaign.

Now to the preview for the UFC 321 “Aspinall vs. Gane” prelims:

Lightweights

Nasrat Haqparast (18-5, 10-4 UFC) vs. Quillan Salkilld (9-1, 2-0 UFC)

BETTING ODDS: Haqparast (-112), Salkilld (-108)

Place your bet on the big fight at Stake, the official betting odds partner of Sherdog.com.

Haqparast quietly looks for his sixth straight win here. Born in Germany to Afghan parents and representing Morocco, Haqparast looked like a top prospect to watch after his UFC debut in 2017. His regional career was marked by an impressive level of improvement from fight to fight, and he put in a surprisingly tough showing against tricky veteran Marcin Held. That made it all the more disappointing when Haqparast plateaued fairly quickly. Much was made at one point of his cosmetic resemblance to Kelvin Gastelum, which makes it a bit amusing that he seemingly has many of the same problems that “The Ultimate Fighter” winner has faced. Haqparast is an obvious top-level athlete with impressive durability, but he is content to pump out consistent volume without much in the way of progression or adjustment. That ran Haqparast into a clear ceiling on the fringes of the UFC’s Top 15 and has, in turn, resulted in a lot of nip-tuck fights where he does some good work only to keep eating a ton of offense in return. Haqparast got extremely lucky to win his last two fights, which probably makes it feel like he has less momentum than his winning streak suggests. Nevertheless, victories are victories, and Haqparast looks for another one against Salkilld. Australia’s Salkilld has been a pleasant surprise since his Dana White’s Contender Series appearance in 2024, looking well-rounded in a way that provided intrigue but left plenty of questions as to how he would adjust to fighting better competition. Salkilld immediately made a statement with a 19-second obliteration of Anshul Jubli in his UFC debut, then impressively got past a tough opponent in Yanal Ashmouz in June, showing an ability to lean on his wrestling. Salkilld did clearly flag late in that fight, which is enough to give Haqparast the nod in what figures to be another hard-fought bout. Still, Salkilld does look like the level of talent that can at least drag Haqparast into a close one. The pick is Haqparast via decision.


Jump To »
Haqparast vs. Salkilld
Aliskerov vs. Park
Klein vs. Rebecki
Al-Selwady vs. Camilo
Walker vs. Sutherland
Delgado vs. Wood
Abdelwahab vs. Barnett
Maksum vs. Raposo
Amorim vs. Inoue