UFC 321 reportedly adds surprise 'Fight of the Night' contender on very short notice

Originally posted on MMA on SI | By Drew Beaupre | Last updated Oct 16, 2025 12:31 PM ET

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UFC 321 has reportedly received a very late addition in the form of a lightweight bout between Nasrat Haqparast and Quillan Salkilld.

Scheduled to take place at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE, UFC 321 will see Tom Aspinall officially kick off his tenure as undisputed UFC heavyweight champion when he attempts to defend his belt for the first time against former interim titleholder Ciryl Gane.

UFC gold will also be on the line in the co-main event when Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern meet to crown a new strawweight champion, and the late-notice addition of Haspqarat vs. Salkilld now brings the card to full capacity with 14 fights.

Nasrat Haqparast Carries 5-Fight Win Streak Into UFC 321

First reported by @mma_ohne_maske, the lightweight contest with Salkilld will see Haqparast try to extend the best winning run he’s put together since joining the UFC in 2017.

Following a unanimous decision loss to Marcin Held in his Octagon debut, Haqparast scored three-straight wins before being knocked out by Drew Dober at UFC 246. He rebounded with back-to-back decisions over Alex Munoz and Rafa Garcia, but high-profile opportunities against Dan Hooker and King Green both saw the 30-year-old come up short on the judges’ scorecards.

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A win over John Makdessi in 2022 kicked off what has now turned into a five-fight win streak for Haqparast, and in his last outing in March he took a hard-fought split decision over Esteban Ribovics in a matchup that earned “Fight of the Night” honors.

Quillan Salkilld Looks To Extend Undefeated UFC Run

A contract winner on last year’s edition of Dana White’s Contender Series, Salkilld is currently riding a nine-fight win streak that dates back to his time with Eternal MMA in his native Australia.

Salkilld won the Eternal MMA lightweight belt with a 42-second finish in 2023 and defended it twice before he defeated current UFC lightweight Gauge Young on DWCS to earn a UFC contract. After knocking out Anshul Jubli in 19 seconds in his promotional debut, the 25-year-old most recently took a unanimous decision over Yanal Ashmouz at UFC 316 in June.

Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The lightweight matchup between Haqparast and Salkilld could be a sleeper contender for “Fight of the Night” at UFC 321, and combat sports fans only have to wait a little over a week until the high-profile card goes down in Abu Dhabi.

UFC 321 Fight Card

• Main Event: Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane – For the UFC Heavyweight Championship

• Co-Main Event: Virna Jandiroba vs. Mackenzie Dern – For the UFC Strawweight Championship

• Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida

• Aleksandr Rakic vs. Azamat Murzakanov

• Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Mario Bautista

• Azat Maksum vs. Mitch Raposo

• Chris Barnett vs. Hamdy Abdelwahab

• Ikram Aliskerov vs. Jun Yong Park

• Jaqueline Amorim vs. Mizuki Inoue

• Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Matheus Camilo

• Mateusz Rebecki vs. Ludovit Klein

• Jose Delgado vs. Nathaniel Wood

• Valter Walker vs. Louie Sutherland

• Nasrat Haqparast vs. Quillan Salkilld