.@UFC announces an
additional update to
#UFCVegas52 : https://t.co/0JqGHP4rVN— UFC News (@UFCNews)
April 21, 2022
One of the more exciting bouts from the upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship card has been
nixed days before it was set to take place.
Per the
organization on Thursday, the flyweight matchup between
Manel
Kape (17-6) and Su Mudaerji
(16-4) has been removed from the lineup of
UFC Fight Night 205. The explanation for its cancellation was
that Kape had to withdraw for personal reasons. There will be no
replacement sought for Mudaerji, and the fight has been scrubbed
from the billing. The event on April 23 at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas will carry on with 12 fights.
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“Starboy” Kape was looking to keep his momentum going, as he
notched a pair of first-round knockouts in 2021 against Ode
Osbourne and Zhalgas
Zhumagulov. Of note, the stoppage of Osbourne – one where he
missed weight by three pounds – ended a two-fight skid where the
Angola native dropped decisions to top contenders Matheus
Nicolau and Alexandre
Pantoja. As a professional, the former Rizin Fighting Federation champ celebrates a
stellar finish rate of 94%, with each of his last 13 victories
coming inside the distance.
Fellow ex-bantamweight Mudaerji also was coming into their meeting
with momentum behind him, with three wins in a row including his
last two at 125 pounds over Malcolm
Gordon and Zarrukh
Adashev. The man known as “Tibetan Eagle” made his promotional
debut in 2018 against Louis
Smolka, and he fell victim to an armbar in the second stanza
while competing as a bantamweight. While not as high as his former
adversary Kape, the Chinese contender celebrates his own stoppage
rate of 87% since debuting in the sport in 2016. In the first three
years of his career from 2016 to 2018, Mudaerji fought a whopping
17 times, while in his last three, he has stepped in the Octagon
thrice.
UFC Fight Night 205, also known as UFC Vegas 52, will continue with
a dozen bouts and a headliner at 115 pounds between Amanda
Lemos and Jessica
Andrade. The co-main event comes at lightweight between
Clay
Guida and Claudio
Puelles, while additional featured fights on the billing
include a 125-pound collision between Maycee
Barber and Montana
De La Rosa, as well as a heavyweight clash pitting Alexander
Romanov against Chase
Sherman.