There was a lot of criticism of the UFC’s matchmaking because it gave Steve Erceg the opportunity to fight for the UFC flyweight title. Erceg is the tenth UFC flyweight challenger, he has three appearances in the UFC under his belt, but at the start of the fifth month, the Australian with Croatian roots will fight Alexandre Pantoja for the championship belt.
It’s rare for a fighter so far from the top of the rankings to get a title shot, but the UFC didn’t have much better options at the time.
Brandon Royval is the first challenger, but he fought for the belt in 12 months, losing convincingly to Pantoja. This is actually his second defeat in games with Pantoja. Brandon Moreno is the next fighter on the list of challengers, but he lost his shot at the title by losing his match against Brandon Royval in the second month of this year.
Amir Albazi, the third-placed challenger, is struggling with a neck injury and has therefore canceled the match he was scheduled to play against Moreno in the second month. A win over Moreno would give Albazia a shot at the title, but he is currently not a realistic candidate for a shot at the belt.
Kai Kara-France, who was defeated in the last two appearances, and Matheus Nicolau are still in the top 5. The Brazilian made his last appearance in the fourth month of last year when Brandon Royval knocked him out in the first round.
Of course, many are wondering why the UFC didn’t stick to the order and why Manel Kape had no advantage over Erceg as the sixth challenger. Kape has celebrated in the last four outings, he doesn’t get away from defeats and is an attractive fighter. However, Kape has some other problems.
Obesity and losing weight are his biggest problems. Kape already defeated Ode Osbourne because he looked three pounds too heavy for that fight (1.36 kg) and had similar problems earlier this year. Manel was scheduled to face Matheus Nicolau, but after he appeared to weigh 3.5 pounds over the limit, the fight was canceled. April 27th (fourth month) is the new fight date for Kape and Nicolau, but just over three weeks before the show, Kape canceled his appearance again.
“This is the first time I’ve pulled out of a fight, I broke my costal cartilage (cartilage joint that connects the ribs to the breastbone). I couldn’t move for a week. My surgery on Thursday went well. Please note that all rejections so far have come from my opponents.
Where I come from, we used to fight for free. I’m not bragging, I’m just honest and I don’t want you to think I’m like some other guys. “Allah is great,” Kape said on social media.
So Manel Kape is a very unreliable fighter who is struggling to make weight at flyweight, and if he were to fight for the title he would have an even more difficult task ahead of him. There is no one pound tolerance in title fights and Kape would have to lose a few ounces more than usual.
All of which tells you why none of the top six contenders in the flyweight division have reached next title challenger status. There isn’t much difference between the seventh and tenth ranked fighters, and Steve Erceg as the current tenth ranked challenger is probably a better option than eighth ranked Alex Perez or ninth ranked Tim Elliott. Seventh-ranked Muhammad Mokaev had a strong case to go for the belt, but he hasn’t impressed much with his performance so far and needs to earn the opportunity.
Kape and Nicolau were originally scheduled to headline UFC on ESPN 55 on April 27, but the UFC quickly found a replacement for the injured Kape. Alex Perez agreed to step in and this will be his second game in less than two months. In early March (the third month) he lost to Muhammad Mokaev.
Perez currently has a match scheduled against Tagir Ulanbekov, and June 15 (sixth month) is the scheduled date for that fight, which will likely be canceled after Perez accepts the match against Nicolau. Alex Perez has decided to be active this year after a long break and a series of canceled games.
