The round robin of opponents continues for
Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight Asu
Almabayev.
In January,
news broke that former title challenger Steve Erceg
was booked against Almabayev (21-2) at UFC Vegas 103, also known as
UFC Fight Night 253. The two flyweights were set to tangle,
until Erceg
was pulled to face Brandon
Moreno in April and was replaced by Allan
Nascimento.
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Now with former main attraction Brandon
Royval
bowing out of UFC Vegas 103 due to injury, Almabayev will be
stepping into the main event. He will throw down with Manel Kape
(20-7) in a 125-pound five-rounder on March 1 inside of the UFC
Apex. News of this shuffling first came courtesy of
Kazakhstan-based outlet Sportilinet on
Thursday, and it has since been confirmed by
multiple
outlets.
Surging 31-year-old Almabayev earns this large opportunity on the
heels of a successful 2024 campaign that saw him pick up three wins
in the Octagon, albeit all at the hands of the judges. “Zulfikhar”
first topped C.J. Vergara
by decision before earning the nod against Jose
Johnson and Matheus
Nicolau, the last of which coming in October. Since suffering a
pair of losses in 2017, Almabayev has not looked back, emerging as
the victor in 17 straight.
After numerous fight cancelations and changed opponents as of late,
Kape will enter the cage after scoring arguably the biggest win of
his UFC career. On the main card of UFC on ESPN 63 in December,
Kape decimated Bruno Silva
with a body kick and follow-up punches to get back in the win
column. While “Starboy” anticipated a match with Royval likely
earning title eliminator consideration, the same cannot be said for
this new top-15 pairing.
UFC Fight Night 253, also coined UFC Vegas 103, will take place
inside of the UFC Apex on March 1. With Kape vs. Almabayev on the
books, it sits atop an event that includes Cody
Brundage vs. Julian
Marquez in the co-main spot. Additional main card matchups
include Nasrat
Haqparast vs. Esteban
Ribovics in a potential lightweight brawl and a heavyweight
smash-em-up derby as Austen Lane
takes on Mario
Pinto.