Alexander Pantoja spoils the debut of Manuel Kape with decision victory
Alexander Pantoja defeats Manuel Kape by unanimous decision.
The UFC returns to the United States for UFC Vegas 18 on Feb. 6. The show will be the promotions first event on US soil in 2021.
The card features a heavyweight main event between Alistair Overeem and Alexander Volkov, who both come into the fight ranked in the top six of the division. Meanwhile, the cards co-main event is a possible title eliminator at bantamweight as Cory Sandhagen takes on former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.
Prior to those fights, the main card will see a flyweight bout between Alexander Pantoja and Manel Kape.
Pantoja (22-5) joined the UFC in 2017 and has posted a 6-3 record. Recently he has lost 2 of his past three with one of those loses coming by unanimous decision to current flyweight king Deiveson Figueiredo. Pantoja holds notable wins over former title challengers Brandon Moreno and Wilson Reis.
Kape (15-4) is making his highly anticipated UFC debut the last few years in RIZIN. Right now Kape is on a three-fight winning streak with all three of throws wins comes by way of knockout. Kape owns a win over former UFC fighter Ian McCall.
Hers how the fight between Pantoja and Kape went down with a round-by-round breakdown and scoring. For a full list of UFC Vegas 18 results, click here.
Round 1
Pantoja swinging away coming forward right from the start of the fight. He doesn’t land anything in his early flurry. Pantoja is using his legs early on by scoring kicks to the leg and body.
Kape is moving around and making it hard to get hit. Not a lot of offense from him, but he’s making it hard on Pantoja to land anything clean.
Pantoja is aggresive with the legs. Kape has landed some strikes, but Pantoja is the more aggressive fighter and taking more chances in the opening round.
Kape never stopped moving in the opening round, but he didn’t throw enough strikes. With one minute left in the round, he still hasn’t landed 10 strikes yet.
Pantoja ends up on top of Kape has the opening round comes to a close. He will take the opening round based on his aggression and letting his hands go. Kape on the other hand is going to have to start opening up his offense as the fight goes on.
MyMMANew scores it 10-9 Pantoja
Round 2
Pantoja comes out with the same aggression as the opening round.
Kape in the early going of round two is still not being busy. He’s moving around, but not throwing a lot of shots. Meanwhile Pantoja lands three more kicks to the body and he threw some just stiff punches as well.
Kape now trying to open up. He throws a kick to Pantoja’s leg and follows up with a punch. Pantoja countered with a nice right hand in that exchange.
Kape is starting to land now. Definitely has picked it up. Pantoja is still staying busy and active though. This round is close
Pantoja throws a bunch of kicks in the final minuted. He even landed a nice counter right hand that caught Kape’s attention.
Kape scored a takedown in the final seconds of the second round. This round was a lot closer, but you have to think Pantoja would have the edge in the round because he landed more shots.
MyMMANews scores it 10-9 Pantoja
Round 3
Kape scores early on by landing two left hands.
Pantoja comes in like he was going for a takedown, but nothing was there has Kape’s speed got hm out of the way.
The two exchange solid punches and it seemed like Kape may have won that brief exchange.
Kape lands another nice clean shot, only problem is he got hit about four times in the process. Kape is definitely controlling the octagon this round. He has even opened up his offense more than he has this whole fight.
Entering the final minute of a close fight.
The two are trading shots. Kape is coming forward and he scores a few shots before scoring another late takedown.
Kape will take the last round. Second round was close and it will determine the outcome of this won. Close fight to judge.
MyMMANews scores it 10-9 Kape
MyMMANews scorecard: 29-28 Pantoja
Official decision: Alexander Pantoja defeats Manuel Kape by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
