Former RIZIN Bantamweight Champion Manel Kape has a new date and a new opponent for his UFC debut, as he is now scheduled to fight Alexandre Pantoja on a December 19th card.
First reported by Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie, the fight joins a card scheduled to take place at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Kape was meant to have his UFC debut months ago, although his original opponent, Rogerio Bontorin, pulled out of the August bout due to injury. He enters the UFC on a three-fight streak of finish wins from Japanese MMA promotion RIZIN Fighting Federation.
Pantoja is coming off of a loss in his last fight to Askar Askarov. The flyweight holds a UFC record of six wins and three losses since his 2017 debut.
The December card has a headlining bout which includes another UFC rookie, as Khamzat Chimaev will fight Leon Edwards. Here’s the updated lineup.
Bout 6: Leon Edwards (18-3) vs. Khamzat Chimaev (9-0) (Welterweight)
Bout 5: Deron Winn (6-2) vs. Antonio Braga Neto (9-3) (Middleweight)
Bout 4: Tafon Nchukwi (4-0) vs. Jamie Pickett (11-4) (Middleweight)
Bout 3: Marlon Moraes (23-7-1) vs. Rob Font (17-4) (Bantamweight)
Bout 2: Rick Glenn (21-6-1) vs. Carlton Minus (10-2) (Lightweight)
Bout 1: Matt Schnell (14-5) vs. Tyson Nam (20-11-1) (Flyweight)
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