Manel Kape misses weight by 3.5 lbs, rematch with Matheus Nicolau OFF UFC Vegas 84
Our first event since the holiday took a serious hit today.
UFC Vegas 84 was to be headlined and co-headlined by two very intriguing rematches up until weigh ins earlier this afternoon.
First, no. 6 ranked Manel Kape (19-6) was expected to face no. 5 ranked Matheus Nicolau (19-3-1) tomorrow night, up until he weighed in at 129.5 lbs at today’s weigh in, the UFC brass deciding to scrap the bout as a result.
Then we have a light-heavyweight encounter between no. 3 ranked Magomed Ankalaev (18-1-1) and no. 7 ranked Johnny Walker (21-7) to look forward to, which luckily for us, is still happening, Ankalaev weighing in at 204.5 lbs, and Walker weighing in at 205.5 lbs for the main event of the evening.
As for Kape and Nicolau, it is a wonder whether the UFC will decide to keep this matchup together or not, and it’s a wonder when we’ll see them compete again.
Following the claim of his Rizin bantamweight championship in 2019, Kape would return to 125 lbs for his UFC debut, where he fought current UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja, losing the bout via unanimous decision.
Kape then faced Nicolau in his sophomore effort, losing a disputed split decision to another Brazilian contender. This was going to be his chance to right that wrong, a fight he was going into on a four-fight win streak.
Many people predict big things for the 29-year-old Angolan star, but we’ll have to wait even longer to see if he can span five-straight wins together inside the octagon.
As the flyweight bout was cancelled, promotional legend Jim Miller (36-17) and Gabriel Benitez (23-10) are now slated to take the co-main event slot at UFC Vegas 84.
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