Manel Kape had an excellent night.
Going in, many saw Kape as the underdog. Though he was fresh off his stunning knockout over Bruno Gustavo da Silva, Kape was facing a man who was on a 17-fight winning streak. But Kape dominated the three-round fight before getting the TKO in the third round. There was a questionable eye poke from the flyweight, but you can't deny the incredible performance he displayed throughout the match-up. Kape is now on a two-fight winning streak. His record is 21 wins and 7 losses. Kape is very confident that he’s ready for a flyweight title shot.
The co-main event also ended in a TKO, but it only took Cody Brundage four minutes and forty-five seconds to flatten Julian Marquez. That win saw him rebound in a big way as Brundage was coming off a loss and a no contest. As you can imagine, Cody was relieved that he got the win. Granted, it wasn’t the smoothest victory ever, but that pressure is off him a bit as a loss could've resulted in him being released:
“I’m at peace. I’m just happy, man,” Brundage told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 253 post-fight press conference. “When you feel like you’re going to lose your dream, it can be really tough. So to kind of take your dream back is empowering and it feels really good. I’m just at a good place.
“Maybe it wasn’t the fight I wanted. I wanted it to be super smooth, take him out and be super slick, but I think that was the fight I needed.”
Unfortunately for Julian, that extended his three fight skid to four, with his last win taking place on April 10, 2021. Brundage’s record now stands at 11 wins and 6 losses.
Check out the full results below:
UFC Fight Night Main Card (7:00 p.m. ET, ESPN+)
• Main Event: Manel Kape def. Asu Almabayev via TKO: R3, 2:16
• Co-Main Event: Cody Brundage def. Julian Marquez via TKO: R1, 4:45
• Nasrat Haqparast def. Esteban Ribovics via Split Decision
• Hyder Amil def. William Gomis via Split Decision
• Sam Patterson def. Danny Barlow via KO: R1, 3:10
UFC Fight Night Preliminary Card (4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+)
• Mario Pinto def. Austen Lane via KO: R2, 0:39
• Chepe Mariscal def. Ricardo Ramos via Unanimous Decision
• Danny Silva def. Lucas Almeida via Split Decision
• JJ Aldrich def. Andrea Lee via Unanimous Decision
• Ramazan Temirov def. Charles Johnson via Unanimous Decision