Don’t tell Manel Kape
that his latest victory was marred by a few uncalled fouls.
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“Starboy” won for the sixth time in his last seven outings,
defeating Asu
Almabayev via stoppage at the 2:16 mark of the third round in
the UFC
Vegas 103 headliner on Saturday night at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas. While Kape was sharp throughout the contest, replays showed
that that Almabayev suffered multiple eye rakes prior to the
finish. However, despite Almabayev’s protests, none of those were
acknowledged by referee Mike Beltran. According to Kape, it was up
to the veteran official to step in if a foul was committed.
“That’s not my job,” Kape said at Saturday’s post-fight press
conference. “I didn’t see nothing. I think the [referee] should be
more attentive. I’ve suffered so [much] stuff in the Octagon, so I
don’t know. It was clear, for what I’ve seen, it was good. [He]
could see me good. If he was not able to fight, if I think he was
really stopping, so he was complaining about something, I give him
three seconds, and I run back. I just didn’t do anything, so I
fight.”
With Almabayev reeling in Round 3, Kape unleashed a volley of
knees, punches and elbows that that forced his opponent to
literally run away from the assault. Kape said he expected the tide
to turn after the fight’s first 10 minutes. It didn’t help
Almabayev’s cause that he was unable to take the former
Rizin Fighting Federation bantamweight champ to the canvas.
“Yeah, I smelled the blood,” Kape said. “I just feel like I was too
much for him. Like I said before, he will not be the same fighter
after the second round. I always, every round, I grow, grow, grow.
That’s the sequence I was looking for and I knew he was giving his
back too much, and I was just calm and [collected] waiting for the
time to stop him.”
Kape debuted in the Octagon with a unanimous decision loss to
Alexandre
Pantoja at UFC Fight Night 184 in February 2021. Now Pantoja is
the division’s reigning champion, and Kape believes he has done
enough to earn a shot at UFC gold.
“After this fight, there is no excuse for not giving me the title,”
Kape said. “I truly believe in the flyweight division needs a
champion like me. I can build this division and bring respect like
other divisions. I’m the only man that can do this.”
According to Kape, previous champions at 125 pounds haven’t done
much to boost the division’s popularity. That’s something he is
confident would change if he were at the top.
“We see right now Pantoja as a champion has been for a long time,
and they didn’t build anything,” Kape said. “Demetrious
Johnson was the best in 125 and they didn’t build anything.
[Brandon] Moreno didn’t build anything. I just don’t just think
[it’s been exciting]. I feel people love to watch me. Even if they
hate me or love me, they want to watch me fight.
“This division don’t go anywhere. It needs something spicy, and I’m
the hot man.
Of course, there is the matter of getting past Pantoja should a
rematch come to fruition. Kape is confident that a second meeting
would end differently.
“It’s going to be very, very different. I’m in another dimension of
fighting,” Kape said. “Things have been good. I’m in my timing. I’m
in flow state. Definitely with Pantoja, my style against him is
going to match very well, and I believe I’m definitely going to
stop him.”