Flyweight Manel Kape continues successful run at UFC Fight Night
Flyweight Manel Kape stopped Kyoji Horiguchi in the third round for his fourth straight victory on Saturday night in the UFC Fight Night main event in Las Vegas. Kape’s TKO at 2:42 in the third of five scheduled rounds marked a transition period in a division whose champion, Joshua Van, successfully defended his title for the first time last month at UFC 328. Kape (23-7 MMA, 8-3 UFC), a native of Angola fighting out of Portugal, exacted revenge against Japan’s Horiguchi (36-6, 1 NC MMA) from their 2017 bout in RIZIN, when Kape suffered one of only two submission losses in his career. Kape paid respects to Horiguchi, recognizing that without him, his path to a potential title shot would look a little different, as he faced adversity in both fights. Kape did make one thing clear, though. “I knew he was going to touch me at some point,” Kape said after the fight about Horiguchi. “Because I felt his hand (speed) before.
