Flyweight fights are not supposed to be decided in a single blow.
Don’t get me wrong, there have been heavy-handed men in the smallest UFC weight class. Some standouts over the years include the lightning quick hands of John Dodson, the marauding swings of Deiveson Figueiredo, and the switch-hitting combinations of Joseph Benavidez. Up until last night’s UFC Vegas 119 main event, the 125-pound all-time knockout record was shared by Benavidez and Manel Kape.
“Starboy” separated himself from
the pack even further by stopping Kyoji Horiguchi, an underappreciated great who defeated Kape many years ago. In this rematch most of a decade later, Horiguchi was still the much slicker and more technical man. He out-landed Kape at distance with heavy body kicks, wrestled Kape to the floor on multiple occasions, and even rocked Kape with several hard counter shots.
One shot erased all his good work (watch highlights).
A single counter right hook saw Horiguchi slip like he was on ice and collapse to the canvas. Kape circled behind his foe and fired away, and two different seemingly innocuous shots sent Horiguchi slumping forward onto the canvas in a finish reminiscent of Dan Henderson vs. Fedor Emelianenko … you know, just one of the hardest hitters of all time competing all the way up at Heavyweight!
Putting power aside briefly, it should be mentioned that Kape did demonstrate clear improvement on a couple fronts in this victory. Historically, he has struggled to open up and throw volume in several close decision losses. Between Horiguchi’s counter punches and takedowns, Kape had every reason to hesitate, and yet he still pressed hard in the third to force the comeback.
Kape’s touch of death at Flyweight is fairly unprecedented even compared to the previous divisional knockout artists. Benavidez, for example, scored most of his knockouts by barraging his opponents with volume, breaking down the liver, or sneaking high kicks over the guard. Kape, conversely, only needed one short right hook to send Horiguchi spiraling, and that same shot knocked out Brandon Royval instantly (re-live that here).
Current champion, Joshua Van, conversely, landed 204 significant shots without stopping Royval.
After this win, it’s hard not to start thinking about the potential Kape vs. Van title clash (details here). Van is the better combination puncher by a significant margin and would likely get the better of most exchanges. Yet, we have seen Van hurt on multiple occasions, and Kape’s unfair power could make another appearance. It’s a guaranteed electric collision that would carry tension to the final exchange, precisely because of Kape’s unique gift.
