Matheus Nicolau-Manel Kape Rematch Rescheduled as UFC on ESPN 55 Headliner
A key flyweight fight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship will serve as a main attraction in April.
First reported by MMA Mania on Thursday evening, Matheus Nicolau (19-3-1) will run it back with Manel Kape (19-6) atop UFC on ESPN 55 on April 27. The flyweights will handle unfinished business at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, in a bout previously booked in January. News of this pairing has since been confirmed by multiple outlets.
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Beating Kape was part of a four-fight win streak in the Octagon that catapulted Nicolau to the top of the flyweight division. In a title eliminator, Nicolau succumbed to a vicious knee and follow-up elbows from Brandon Royval to lose his first fight since 2018. This marks the second stint for the Nova Uniao fighter, who went 3-1 and recorded an ultra-rare Japanese Necktie submission before leaving in 2018 to test his mettle in Brazil again.
Since losing to Nicolau, “Starboy” has rattled off four victories, including two first-round knockouts of Ode Osbourne and Zhalgas Zhumagulov. Kape has averaged just one fight a year the last few years, due to a myriad of reasons ranging from Kape missing weight to opponent illness and injury. As a pro, the Angolan sports a finish rate of 84%, far higher than his adversary’s 52%.
UFC on ESPN 55 will go down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, with Nicolau-Kape 2 serving as its main event. The remainder of the lineup has not yet been set, but other significant matches include a lightweight tilt between Joel Alvarez and Mateusz Rebecki, and a flyweight scrap pitting Karine Silva against Ariane Lipski.
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