Manel Kape calls for title shot after stopping Almabayev at UFC Fight Night
Manel Kape took advantage of his first UFC main event spotlight with an exciting stoppage victory over Asu Almabayev in Saturday’s Fight Night headliner from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Manel Kape took advantage of his first UFC main event spotlight.
The exciting flyweight contender earned a third-round technical knockout victory over Asu Almabayev in Saturday’s Fight Night headliner from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas
Kape was originally supposed to fight No. 1 flyweight contender Brandon Royval at the event, however, an injury forced Royval off the card at the beginning of the month.
Almabayev was tabbed as a suitable replacement, considering he was riding a 17-fight winning streak dating back to 2017 and had begun his UFC tenure 4-0 before running into Kape.
Kape may literally have the fastest hands on the entire UFC roster, and he put his slick boxing to work early.
Composed and loose from his southpaw stance, Kape began marking up Almabayev with head strikes from a distance. Kape mixed up his rhythm to keep his opponent off balance and successfully defended all six of Almabayev’s takedown attempts in the bout.
At one point in the third round, Kape appeared to rake the eyes of Almabayev but the foul went unnoticed and Kape continued to attack.
Kape overwhelmed a wincing Almabayev, who at one point began running away from Kape with his back turned to attempt to regain his composure, however, referee Mike Beltran decided to call a halt to the action midway through the third.
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“Who is next? Who is next against me?” Kape exclaimed after his sixth win in his past seven bouts. “They gonna deny again my title shot? Hey Hunter (Campbell, the UFC’s Chief Business Officer), you know who is the best. I just stopped a guy (on a 17-fight win streak). Everyone was scared to fight him. You guys really thought I was scared to fight him because he’s a wrestler? I can wrestle, I can stand with anyone in this division. I’m the best. I’m the Starboy.”
Kape is a former Rizin champion who holds a stoppage win over recent UFC flyweight title challenger Kai Asakura. He entered the weekend ranked as the No. 6 contender in the 125-pound division and is closing in on a title shot.
One issue Kape is facing within the division — and he is by no means alone in this regard — is that he has a previous loss to the current champion, Alexandre Pantoja. Kape’s UFC debut in 2021 was a three-round unanimous decision loss to Pantoja.
The current champ does not officially have his next title defence booked, although it is looking like it could be Kai Kara-France at some point later this year. Kara-France, like Kape, has previously lost a decision to Pantoja.
“Pay attention Pantoja, Kai Kara-France, whoever is next to fight against me, be ready because I’m gonna steal that belt,” an animated Kape added.
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Cody Brundage and Julian Marquez left it all in the cage in the penultimate bout of the night, even though the fight didn’t even require a second round.
Brundage and Marquez wasted no time trading haymakers. Both hurt the other on multiple occasions and both knocked out their opponent’s mouthguards at different points.
Referee Mark Smith paused the action late in Round 1 for the rare double mouthguard return and Brundage hurt Marquez within a few seconds of the action resuming.
Marquez, 34, has lost four fights in a row, all by knockout, while Brundage picked up his fifth UFC win since debuting with the organization in 2021.
Brundage, 30, is 5-5 with one no-contest in his 11 UFC appearances. He was originally slated to face recent TUF winner Ryan Loder at this event, but Loder withdrew from the bout for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Marquez.
Neither Nasrat Haqparast nor Esteban Ribovics are averse to a brawl, and the pair of lightweights proved exactly that with a tightly contested 15-minute war of attrition.
Ribovics was coming off a win over Daniel Zellhuber at the UFC’s Sphere show in September in what was considered a Fight of the Year contender, and his high-volume striking and his durability were on display against Haqparast.
Ribovics busted open Haqparast with a flush knee to the cheek in the third round and won the final round on all three scorecards, but it was Haqparast that ended up on the right side of a split decision.
Haqparast was the more efficient striker in the opening two rounds despite Ribovics landing more total and significant strikes.
The 29-year-old who has been training with the team at Tristar Gym in Montreal has now won five consecutive bouts overall and called out recent title challenger Renato Moicano following the win.
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Sam Patterson opened the main card with an upset of Danny Barlow in an anticipated matchup of ascending welterweights. Patterson staggered Barlow with a counter right hook midway through the opening round, and once he realized his opponent was hurt, he put on the pressure and found the knockout along the fence.
The 28-year-old from England has looked like an entirely different and better version of himself since moving up from 155 pounds to 170 pounds last year.
Patterson lost his UFC debut in his home country at UFC 286 in 2023 but has gone 3-0 with three first-round finishes. He earned a pair of submissions over Yohan Lainesse and Kiefer Crosbie prior to knocking out Barlow.
Hyder Amil improved to 11-0 in pro mixed martial arts with a split decision over William Gomis, who had a 12-fight winning streak snapped in the process.
The pair of 145-pounders went back and forth in a high-volume striking match, something Amil is no stranger to. Amil was coming off a 65-second victory that saw him land a 38-strike combination to put away Jeong Yeong Lee last summer.
Amil’s output increased round-over-round, and when all was said and done, he connected on 164 of his 262 strike attempts compared to 116 of 205 for Gomis, who went 0-3 on takedown attempts.
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The 10-bout card was bookended by the men’s flyweight division. Ramazan Temirov kicked off the action on the prelims by extending his winning streak to 11 and snapping Charles Johnson’s four-fight hot streak with a unanimous decision.
Temirov is now 2-0 in the UFC and will likely get a high-profile matchup later this year since Johnson entered the weekend ranked as the No. 12 contender in the 125-pound division.
The preliminary card was highlighted by a massive knockout from UFC newcomer Mario Pinto, who put Austen Lane to sleep with a massive overhand right early in Round 2 of their heavyweight matchup.
Two matchups were removed from the card at Friday’s official weigh-in after multiple athletes had issues making weight.
A women’s flyweight matchup between Montana De La Rosa and Luana Carolina was cancelled because of weight management issues with Carolina, and a 140-pound catchweight bout between Douglas Silva de Andrade and John Castaneda was also called off due to a medical issue with Silva de Andrade after both fighters had made weight.
