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<\/a><\/p>\nDid Manel Kape do enough to potentially steal a flyweight title shot from Tatsuro Taira, or is it currently up in the air as to who\u2019s next for Joshua Van?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think he stole a title shot from Taira because Taira never had a title shot to begin with. Taira was simply in the mix and now Kape is right there with him. That being said, I believe Kape did put himself at the front of the line at 125 pounds, but that only means so much. Right now, the flyweight title picture is as clear as mud.<\/p>\n
Ostensibly, Alexandre Pantoja is the fighter who actually is first in line for the new champion, Joshua Van, not just because their fight had an unsatisfactory ending, but also because he\u2019s earned that right. Pantoja is the second-greatest flyweight ever and was the longest-reigning active champion. That earns you first right of refusal for the next title shot.<\/p>\n
But the question is, when will Pantoja be ready to fight? I\u2019m not a physician, but I\u2019m fairly certain that flamingo-ing your elbow isn\u2019t all that good for you. It\u2019s possible he sustained minimal long-term damage, but it\u2019s also possible he tore a bunch of ligaments in there, which means he\u2019ll be non-contact for a while. Either way, personally, I would prefer he take some time off to heal properly, because what we don\u2019t want is a T.J. Dillashaw situation where he feels pressured to come back but can\u2019t reasonably compete.<\/p>\n
So, assuming all of that, the flyweight title picture then basically boils down to Taira vs. Kape, and I believe Kape has the edge right now. Aside from the fact that Brandon Royval was more highly ranked than Brandon Moreno was at the time of Kape and Taira\u2019s respective victories, Taira also recently lost to Royval. MMAth is silly, but it does make things like this simple, and so Kape is the (second) front-runner.<\/p>\n
But, if we\u2019re being honest, the answer is probably \u201cWhoever says yes for the timeline the UFC wants.\u201d If there\u2019s one thing the UFC 324 and UFC 325 main events should have made abundantly clear by now, it\u2019s that the UFC is not about merit; it\u2019s about keeping the machine moving along as smoothly as possible at all times. So, if I were Kape, I wouldn\u2019t try to negotiate anything extra for a title fight, or else he\u2019ll be back in the pile again soon.<\/p>\n
No UFC events for 6 weeks, it\u2019s been so long since they\u2019ve taken such a long break that I don\u2019t even recall the last time it happened. It seems odd to me considering the schedule the UFC normally keeps, and the big shows they typically put on closer to the end of the year. What do you think the reasons are for the long break right now?<\/p>\n I think this one is pretty simple: it\u2019s mostly timing, and a little bit the new TV rights deal.<\/p>\n Basically, every year, the UFC takes four weeks off from mid-December to mid-January. It\u2019s been that way since 2020. But this time, the winter break coincides with the UFC\u2019s shift over to Paramount. Now, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean they couldn\u2019t just hold an event in mid-January, but look at the calendar, that would only be one week earlier.<\/p>\n Historically, the UFC would ease into a new year with a warm-up Fight Night card on that week, before diving into a PPV at the end of the month, but I\u2019m guessing Paramount didn\u2019t want to do that. Instead, they want to make a big splash with their first event, hence a PPV, and so we added one week to the break.<\/p>\n Hi Jed,<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to know what you think is more valuable in elevating a fighter\u2019s profile on the come up:<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been banging this drum for many years at this point, but the answer is obvious: fighting. Fighting is how you become a star. Fighting is how you get noticed in this sport. Fight. All. The. Time.<\/p>\n Conor McGregor is the biggest star in the history of MMA, and his career arc isn\u2019t really replicable. He was a perfect storm of everything. He was talented, charismatic, came with a built-in fan base, won spectacularly, and certainly got lucky as well. But the thing that tied it all up together was the frequency with which he competed. McGregor fought seven times in his first 32 months in the UFC. Every four and a half months, he was in there, demolishing someone. Had he taken a year off at a time *cough* Arnold Allen *cough* it would\u2019ve taken him twice as long to blow up.<\/p>\n A look at recent history also confirms this. Khamzat Chimaev became an overnight sensation because he fought three times in six weeks. Baisangur Susurkaev was one of the breakout fighters of 2025 because he fought twice in four days. Waldo Cortes-Acosta might end up winning Breakout Fighter of the Year because he fought five times! It doesn\u2019t matter that he lost one of them; every other month, WCA was on television, hitting somebody. That sticks with people.<\/p>\n And, aside from the frequency of things being its own reward, the more you fight, the more you have an opportunity to deliver that breakthrough performance. It\u2019s the same with media; you post every day, because all it takes is one thing to blow up, and suddenly you\u2019ve made it. But that\u2019s true of life in general; the more you try, the luckier you get.<\/p>\n And the inverse is true as well. Just look at Shavkat Rakhmonov, who half the fan base has seemingly forgotten about entirely, because other people won fights at welterweight and he\u2019s been injured. Francis Ngannou has tanked his MMA stock because he\u2019s fought in a cage once in four years. This sport has the memory of a goldfish, so you\u2019d better be fighting all the time.<\/p>\n As for promos, if you\u2019re good at it, it can elevate you, but that is a rarity. Colby Covington is the example here. To be clear, he was actively bad at promos, but he was polarizing, which at least made him stand out in a sea of fighter uniforms and banal answers. But truly, promos are better at elevating a popular fighter than they are at turning a fighter popular, if that makes sense.<\/p>\n So, yeah, fight constantly. And if you can give the people something to attach to as well, that never hurts.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n