{"id":717356,"date":"2026-06-21T12:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T12:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/717356\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T12:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T12:45:10","slug":"manel-kape-avenges-2017-loss-blasts-kyoji-horiguchi-in-ufc-vegas-119-rematch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/717356\/","title":{"rendered":"Manel Kape avenges 2017 loss, blasts Kyoji Horiguchi in UFC Vegas 119 rematch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nManel
\nKape<\/a> marked his territory as the
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a>\u2019s number one contender in
\nwaiting at 125 pounds.<\/p>\n

The Xtreme Couture rep punched out Kyoji
\nHoriguchi<\/a> in the third round of their
\nUFC Fight Night 279<\/a> headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in
\nLas Vegas. Kape (23-7, 8-3 UFC) slammed the door 2:42 into Round 3,
\navenging his Dec. 31, 2017 submission defeat to the former Rizin
\nFighting Federation and Bellator MMA champion.<\/p>\n

Horiguchi (36-7, 9-2 UFC) stayed a step ahead of \u201cStarboy\u201d from a
\ntactical standpoint through much of the first 10 minutes. In fact,
\nhe secured a takedown and spent almost the entire second round
\ngrinding away on Kape from top position. However, Horiguchi\u2019s
\ninability to inflict any real damage proved costly.
\n
\nKape clipped him with a right hook midway through Round 3, pushed
\nhim to all fours and snuck a devastating uppercut underneath the
\narmpit that prompted the stoppage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, surging City Kickboxing prospect Navajo
\nStirling<\/a> kept his perfect professional record intact, as he
\ndispatched Ion
\nCutelaba<\/a> with punches and elbows in the second round of their
\nlight heavyweight co-main event.
\nStirling (10-0, 5-0 UFC) brought it to a close 3:23 into Round
\n2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nCutelaba (20-12-1, 9-11-1 UFC) threatened with a guillotine choke
\nin the first round and a kimura in the second, but the Moldovan
\nsambo practitioner was largely outgunned in the standup exchanges.
\nHe executed a pair of takedowns in the middle stanza, only to watch
\nStirling scramble to advantageous positions. The former Hex Fight
\nSeries champion ultimately stood above the seated Cutelaba and
\nproceeded to bury him with punches and elbows. Looking like a man
\nwho was resigned to his fate, \u201cThe Hulk\u201d offered nothing resembling
\nintelligent defense.<\/p>\n

Stirling, 28, has stopped his last two opponents inside two
\nrounds.<\/p>\n

Further down the main card, Xtreme Couture\u2019s Christian
\nRodriguez<\/a> put fellow Dana White\u2019s Contender Series alum
\nHyder
\nAmil<\/a> to sleep with a guillotine choke in the first round of
\ntheir featherweight showcase.
\nAmil (11-3, 3-3 UFC) lost consciousness 3:43 into Round
\n1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez (13-4, 6-4 UFC) was quicker on the draw and packed a much
\nmore powerful wallop. He punctuated an exchange with a devastating
\nhead kick that dropped Amil where he stood in the center of the
\ncage. Rodriguez pounced with follow-up punches, cinched the
\nguillotine and waited for the Gilbert
\nMelendez<\/a> prot\u00e9g\u00e9 to go limp.<\/p>\n

It was Rodriguez\u2019s first victory via submission in four-plus
\nyears.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the undefeated Murtazali
\nMagomedov<\/a> dazzled in his Octagon debut, as he put away Melsik
\nBaghdasaryan<\/a> with a twister in the first round of their
\nfeatherweight attraction.
\nMagomedov (11-0, 1-0 UFC) elicited the tapout 1:17 into Round 1,
\nauthoring the fourth such finish in UFC history<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nThe 34-year-old Baghdasaryan (8-4, 3-3 UFC) greeted the promotional
\nnewcomer with a body kicks and multiple one-twos to the body.
\nMagomedov was unimpressed. He crowded Baghdasaryan with punches,
\nbullied him to the canvas and moved to the back with a body
\ntriangle. Magomedov then allowed his opponent to rotated into him,
\ncranked on the twister and completed the sensational
\nsubmission.<\/p>\n

Baghdasaryan has lost three of his past four bouts.<\/p>\n

Finally, Sombra Team rep Vinicius
\nOliveira<\/a> disposed of Andre Fili<\/a>
\nwith an avalanche of punches and elbows in the second round of
\ntheir featherweight appetizer. A short-notice replacement for
\nGiga
\nChikadze<\/a>, Fili (25-14, 13-13 UFC) clocked out 4:56 into Round
\n2.<\/p>\n

Oliveira (24-4, 5-1 UFC) deployed brutal kicks to the Team Alpha
\nMale mainstay\u2019s lower extremities and paired them with heavy
\npunching bursts. Fili responded initially, called upon his wealth
\nof experience, targeted the midsection and doubled over the
\nBrazilian with two body kicks in the first round. Oliveira
\nretreated, recovered and returned to business. His unshakable
\naggression eventually broke down Fili.
\nOliveira trapped the Californian along the fence late in the middle
\nstanza, let the punches fly and mixed in standing elbows, one of
\nwhich cut his opponent near the back of the head. Fili wilted at
\nthe base of the cage and shielded himself in a submissive posture,
\nnecessitating the stoppage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old Oliveira has rattled off seven wins in eight
\nappearances.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading \u00bb
\nUFC Vegas 119 Prelims: Kevin Borjas overcomes low blow on
\ndecision-heavy undercard, springs upset on previously undefeated
\nAndre Lima<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manel Kape marked his territory as the Ultimate Fighting Championship\u2019s number one contender in waiting at 125 pounds.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[966,245279,3,99],"class_list":["post-717356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-article","tag-https-www-sherdog-com-news-news-ufc","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}