He worked his way to the top, eventually winning the Rizin bantamweight title and solidifying himself as someone ready to compete with the best fighters that MMA has to offer.
The UFC wasted no time putting Kape up against top competition, giving him flyweight contenders Alexandre Pantoja and Matheus Nicolau in his first two bouts. Although he came up short in both bouts, he pushed the veterans to the limit and showed that he clearly belonged in the UFC.
Kape bounced back from those two defeats with two emphatic knockout finishes and carries that momentum into his UFC 275 fight with No. 8-ranked Rogerio Bontorin on June 11th.
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“It’s not how it begins; it’s how you finish,” Kape told UFC.com. “Many people have a good start in UFC; they start very well but finish bad and they don’t have good progress. Look at Charles Oliveira – he had not so good times in the UFC but it’s about how he’s finished.”
When all is said and done, Kape has no doubt that he’ll go down as one of the best flyweights to step into the UFC Octagon. He’s always felt that way, even when he wasn’t in the UFC. Now he’s just looking to move up the ladder and prove it to everyone else.
“It’s not that I believe; I know that I’m one of the number one or the number two best in the world in the flyweight division,” Kape said. “This position for me is not a surprise; this is something I deserve because I’ve been working. This is just the beginning.”
Defeating a Top 10 opponent like Bontorin in impressive fashion isn’t something that Kape is hoping to accomplish at UFC 275. It’s what he’s expecting, and he isn’t shy about telling the world exactly why.
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“I’m faster than him, I’m super dangerous, as you can see in my record. I finish everybody, even on the ground or in striking,” Kape said. “He’s a good opponent but, like I’ve said, he’s very slow and very predictable. For me, when somebody is slow and predictable, he’s a dead man inside the Octagon.”
Kape doesn’t see other flyweights operating with the same level of ferocity that he brings to the Octagon and that’s what he believes separates himself from the rest of the division.
The stats back up Kape’s claim, as a finish win over Bontorin would give him the second most KOs among active flyweights. He would only trail champion Deiveson Figueiredo in that category, and he will have competed in eight less fights than the champ.
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“This is what’s important in the flyweight division,” Kape said. “Be fast, be ferocious, because things can happen quickly. I’m the perfect flyweight.”
Right now, I’m going to make an easy fight. I’m going to break this guy mentally and break his physical and everything. People are going to see I’m the next one for the belt with this fight.”
With the interim UFC flyweight belt on the line between Brandon Moreno and Kai-Kara France in just over a month, the timing couldn’t be better for Kape to make a statement.
When he was 0-2 in the UFC, he still believed he would be in this type of position and now that he’s here, there’s no way he’s going to let the opportunity slip through his fingers.
“You can see in my career, I started badly, but I’m right there,” Kape said. “Two-win streak, both by KO, so what’s coming next? Another KO, of course.”
