Chris ‘Taco’ Padilla gets fight ‘Year in the Making’ against Nasrat Haqparast at UFC Sacramento

When Chris “War Taco” Padilla called out Nasrat Haqparast in August of last year, the original answer came in the form of another opponent in Marquel Mederos at UFC 327.

Padilla, 30, looks to return to the Octagon following a controversial overturned decision in his last bout, taking on 15-fight UFC veteran Nasrat Haqparast on UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs Rodrigues on August 22nd.

“If I can be honest, it felt like destiny,” Padilla said in an interview with MMA Island.

“I know it’s not what I asked for, but if you look back, in August 2025 I called out Nasrat. I called for that fight in August of last year, and I got it — one month before the call-out anniversary. So it’s like now I get it the month of the call-out. I get to actually fight him.”

Although being a month removed from fighting in his home city of Los Angeles, Padilla stated the timing ultimately felt right to come back to the cage, despite the closeness in proximity to UFC 332.

“Would I love LA? Yes. Is LA gonna come? Yes. It’s destiny for me, there’s no ‘if,’ there’s only ‘when.’

“All I have to do is win, win, win,” Padilla added. “I would rather come as a main event than an undercard or a prelim. I want to be main event when I come to LA.”

Padilla has stayed unbeaten through five UFC appearances, though his most recent outing came with its fair share of controversy. Following a hard-fought three-round fight at UFC 327 in Miami this April, Padilla appeared to have his hand raised in a majority decision over MarQuel Mederos.

The decision was ultimately overturned after Padilla walked out of the cage, with scoring officials citing an error and changing the result to a majority draw.

The decision grew quite the amount of controversy on social media and across publications, with many calling into question MMA commissions and their scoring practices as the sport grows out of its infancy stage.

“The Marquel [Mederos] fight, maybe not the result on the Tapology page you’d want, but a lot of fans believe that’s a win, and I believe that’s a win too,” he said.

Although the decision against Mederos drew many headlines on UFC 327 fight week, another headline that came from the fight week was the active corner of Chris Padilla in Los Angeles native Chris Culley, a 30-fight veteran in his own right and cornerman for Padilla, along with fellow UFC Sacramento fighter Jamall Emmers.

“It’s not really breaking down the fight, so to speak,” Padilla explained. “You get to feel what each other is talking about. That’s the cool thing.”

On the other side of the cage, Nasrat Haqparast is coming off a setback in his own right in a first-round knockout loss to Quillan Salkilld last October in Abu Dhabi. The loss snapped what was a five-fight win streak, a streak that Padilla will look to chase with a win over Haqparast.

“A lot of people are counting out the veterans,” Padilla said. “You already know, we got tricks in our bags, and we’re gonna dissect him like we dissect everybody else, and expect to get the job done.”

As for how “Wartaco” views his own trajectory going into 2027, Padilla downplayed any title ambitions in favor of racking up fan favorite matchups that will up his stock in the promotion. Comparing his own career arc to the “Worst Generation” arc from the anime “One Piece,” Padilla said that lightweight’s current wave of rising contenders is on a run of chasing legendary names on their path to the title, while he is willing to take on all and any comers.

“At first, for 2027, I was like, I want the belt. But bro, I just want the smoke — as much of it as I can get,” Padilla said.

“I’m not worried about a belt right now. I just want legendary matchups. I want to crush everybody around me, and once I crush the up-and-comers, I want to crush the veterans. That means more to me than the belt right now.”

Padilla and Haqparast are set to be one of the top matchups on the prelims of UFC Sacramento come August 22nd for UFC Sacramento: Hernandez vs. Rodrigues, streaming on Paramount+.