Manel Kape is confident that he would avenge his loss to Alexandre Pantoja if they met again.
Pantoja (27-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) spoiled Kape’s (19-6 MMA, 4-2 UFC) UFC debut by defeating him via unanimous decision in February 2021.
Since then, Kape has gone 4-1 and been on the brink of title contention before withdrawing for the second time against Matheus Nicolau in the main fight of UFC Fight Night 241 this past Saturday, this time due to a rib injury.
“He’s not on my level,” Kape said on “JAXXON PODCAST.” “Pantoja is not at my level, believe me. He can fight in any style. I’m a good match with him.”
Kape pointed to the slippery canvas that prevented him from moving as the reason he lost to Pantoja in the first fight.
“The thing is, it wasn’t the skills, but I was slipping a lot in the cage,” Kape said. “If you watch the fight carefully, I was more worried about the balance. I was sliding. I was using a skateboard and I couldn’t throw a punch. If you slip, you won’t have the power to counterattack, to come back, to pull back.
“You don’t feel grip. You see the two fights I lost. … It’s not that they do anything. They don’t do anything. It was just inactivity on my part because of course I can’t go there and throw a punch and come back to pull, I was like sliding. Very slippery.”
Pantoja defends his flyweight title against Erceg (12-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 301 (Pay-per-view/ESPN/ESPN+) at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro.
For more information on the card, visit the MMA Junkie events hub to UFC 301.
