Cage Warriors champ Nad Narimani steps in to face Nasrat Haqparast at UFC London

Cage Warriors featherweight champion Nad Narimani has stepped in to replace Alex Reyes in his lightweight bout against Nasrat Haqparast at UFC Fight Night 127 in London this Saturday.

Ten days before the fight was scheduled to take place, Reyes was forced off the card. Several UK based fighters put their names forward to replace Reyes, but German site GNP1.de reported on Monday that Narimani would be the man to face Haqparast.

UFC confirmed that Narimani would replace Reyes in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

Narimani (10-2-0) has not been in action since he dethroned one of Cage Warriors’ star names, Paddy Pimblett, at Cage Warriors 82 in April. He rides a three-fight win streak into his UFC debut having beaten Jeremy Petley and Daniel Requeijo to earn a shot at Pimblett.

Haqparast came up short in his UFC debut when he took on experienced Polish submission specialist Marcin Held. After suffering a defeat in his first pro fight, he amassed a seven-fight win before he stepped in to face Held on short notice at UFC Fight Night 118.