Preview: UFC on ESPN 43 ‘Vera vs. Sandhagen’

Flyweights

#9 FLW | Manel Kape (18-6, 3-2 UFC) vs. #6 FLW | Alex Perez (24-7, 6-3 UFC)

ODDS: Kape (-175), Perez (+150)

The flyweight division sure moved past Perez in record time. After earning a contract on the first season of Dana White's Contender Series, Perez quietly marched his way up the flyweight ranks—with a few detours to bantamweight—on the weight of a power-focused style, eventually earning a title shot against Deiveson Figueiredo in November 2020. Perez was still relatively anonymous as a title challenger, so the hope was that he could make a name for himself, win or lose. Instead, Figueiredo submitted him in under two minutes, cleanly enough that the Brazilian was able to turn around and face Brandon Moreno three weeks later, immediately making Perez an afterthought. Perez was essentially forgotten from there, particularly since he was out of action for nearly two years afterwards, thanks to six different fight bookings falling through for various reasons. His return was not all that memorable, as Alexandre Pantoja quickly ran him over to make his own case for a title shot. Perez is freshly turned 31, so there is still time for him to regroup and make his way back up the rankings, though he will need to hold serve here against the surging Kape. After a frustrating start to his UFC career, the worry was that Kape would turn into a high-profile bust. A champion and an explosive knockout artist in Japan, the flaws in Kape’s game quickly got exposed against competition inside the Octagon. Kape preferred to sit back and pick his shots to find an explosive knockout, but Pantoja and Matheus Nicolau each stayed patient enough to stay out of danger and allowed the Angolan to coast to some frustrating decision losses. Kape has learned to pick up the pace in recent performances, which has paid immediate dividends. Even beyond knockout wins over Zhalgas Zhumagulov and Ode Osbourne, it was impressive to see Kape string together three productive rounds to take a clear decision over David Dvorak. That also looks to make this a tough matchup for Perez, who has a strong wrestling and kicking game once he can get things going. However, he does seemingly need to build some early momentum and generally relies on overpowering and bullying his opponents. That seems unlikely against one of the most powerful athletes in the division. The pick is Kape via first-round knockout.

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Vera vs. Sandhagen
Holm vs. Santos
Landwehr vs. Lingo
Barber vs. Lee
Kape vs. Perez
Njokuani vs. Duraev
The Prelims