Manel Kape isn’t in the business of waiting for a title shot.
Despite looking at a potential barnburner in the future against reigning UFC flyweight champion Joshua Van, Kape didn’t want to be sidelined for the majority of 2026 waiting for that fight to happen. At the time, the UFC had already promised Tatsuro Taira the next title shot so the promotion gave Kape the option to wait to fight the winner or choose a different opponent to stay active in the mean time.
It didn’t take long for Kape to decide to book another fight.
“They gave me option to wait for the title but I don’t want to wait,” Kape told MMA Fighting. “I’m on good timing, good rhythm. To wait until the end of the year to fight for the title, that’s not the type of fighter I am. I want to keep rolling., I want to keep making money.
“I believe as a champion as a guy that thinks he’s the champion, you have to fight everyone. You’re going to fight him sooner or later, whatever it is, you’re going to have to fight everyone if you are a champion. So why not do early? So that’s what I did.”
Kape revealed that UFC officials actually apologized to him after it appeared he would fight for the title sooner, especially after he scored three straight wins all by knockout.
But a slight injury suffered by Van delayed his fight against Taira from April to May and Kape effectively ended up as the odd man out. He didn’t get mired in anger or frustration over the delay and instead told the UFC to give him another fight.
“They were very honest with me,” Kape said. “[They] apologized, because [they] promised the fight to Tatsuro. [They said] we know you have all the reasons to be mad and you’re the guy that’s supposed to be fighting for the title. But on the other hand, the compensation is very good and they gave me the option to wait. But it’s not my style.
“It’s not my styles to wait for something, getting heavy and everything or even be a backup for [the title fight]. No, I want to have a fight. I want to have a real fight. That’s what I chose.”
While it’s not a title fight, Kape was still more than excited to get a rematch against Kyoji Horiguchi in Saturday’s UFC Vegas 119 main event, after first fighting Horiguchi in RIZIN in 2017. On that night, Horiguchi scored a third-round submission win, but as soon as he re-signed with the UFC this past year, Kape knew it was inevitable they would meet again.
Looking back at that first fight, Kape knows he was ill-prepared for somebody as experienced as Horiguchi, but he didn’t shy away from the matchup when it was offered.
“At the time I fought him, he was a killer,” Kape said. “I think he slowed down a little bit. Of course, at that time that I fought him, not taking any credit [away], he was an incredible fighter and he’s still a good fighter, but in the past fight with a young guy coming from Africa … I was in Angola living there for two years and then I was only training with my cousin. He just graduated from England and in England he was a student in business and doing wrestling in his free time and London shootfighting. He was not a professional athlete. When he came back from graduation, we were training. He was the only person that I had. It was just me and him, all the time, no resources. Just pure training.
“If people see where I came from and how I was training, people would say you are crazy. I accepted the offer to go to RIZIN and I didn’t even know who the hell Kyoji was. I was just like this is a good opportunity to get back in MMA because for one or two years, I didn’t fight.”
After the fight, Kape says that Horiguchi’s long time head coach Mike Brown actually invited him to come train with them at American Top Team in Florida. But Kape knew he would eventually cross paths with Horiguchi again so he passed on that opportunity.
“I was thinking one day I’m going to fight this guy again,” Kape said. “I’m going to train at another place because I know I can beat him. If I had the same structure that he had, I can beat him. Where we’re at now, it’s funny.”
Kape isn’t looking at this rematch as a chance at revenge because he feels he’s come so far from that first fight that he doesn’t even seriously consider himself the same person.
That said, Kape knows a win keeps him on track to eventually battle for that UFC flyweight title that has eluded him for so long. He’s also keeping plenty of receipts when it comes time to ask for that shot at gold and he’s confident the UFC is going to fulfill the promises made to him.
“They didn’t give me the title shot because they promised Tatsuro Taira,” Kape said. “The same way, if they promise they’d give me the fight at the end of the year, it is what it is. I could sit here very comfortable and tell everyone I’m fighting for the title and just wait. What’s your guarantee? They give me their word. If they gave their word to Tatsuro Taira, I can play the same negotiation.
“Of course, if they promised, they’ll keep their word. That’s the strategy I could use against them but it’s not my type. End of the year is a long time. It’s not about financial — I’m very comfortable. But it’s just about the love of competition. The challenge and the timing. I don’t want to waste more time. I had a lot of cancellations. That’s the one thing about fighting and I love to do it and I want to keep showing why I am this guy.”
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