LAS VEGAS – Manel Kape doesn’t view new UFC flyweight champion Joshua Van as a difficult opponent.
Even though the UFC 323 co-main event ended promptly due to an injury to Alexandre Pantoja just 26 seconds into the fight, Kape (21-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) views Van (16-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) as the rightful champion – even if the fight didn’t play out normally.
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“It doesn’t matter how you win, how you lose – it gets the results,” Kape said at UFC on ESPN 73 media day. “In the end of the day, when the books is gonna talk, all the writes, Wikipedia – it’s gonna be there that Joshua Van’s was the champion. Even if the people didn’t watch the fights, it’s gonna be there. You cannot deny he was with the belt.
“Yes, he’s the champion. As I say, we didn’t find the better man that night becuase there was not a fight, but Joshua Van is the champion.”
Kape returns to action in the main event of UFC on ESPN 73 to face Brandon Royval in an important flyweight matchup that could determine the next contender for Van. “Starboy” is confident that he’ll get a win Saturday, and get his opportunity to fight for the title. When that time comes, Kape believes he can expose the holes in Van’s game.
“Of course, I see a lot of weakness on him,” Kape said. “By the way, when he fight Brandon Royval, in my opinion, he lost that fight, but the knockdown stole the show. He had a lot to improve in a lot of areas and I see a lot of things that I can beat him. He’s not a difficult puzzle.”
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Van and Royval (17-8 MMA, 7-4 UFC) went to war in a Fight of the Night at UFC 317, which is arguably deserving of Fight of the Year awards too. Van won by unanimous decision after three rounds, earning himself a shot at the division’s title. In the fight prior for Royval, he went the distance with Tatsuro Taira, who just defeated former champion Brandon Moreno at UFC 323, and was brought out to sit cageside for the co-main event between Pantoja and Van.
Kape believes Royval clearly won that fight against Taira, even though the judges were split. Using a bit of MMA match, Kape intends to handily beat Royval, which would in turn, make him look even better than Taira when it comes to No. 1 contender status.
“Brandon Royval just beat Tatsuro Taira – he beat badly. Not just win, he beat,” Kape said. “I’m gonna make Brandon Royval look easy. Who you think deserve the title shot? I don’t even need to pass Tatsuro Taira to show that I’m better man than him. I’m gonna beat and make the guy that beat you look easy. So, there will be no denying.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Manel Kape sees ‘a lot of weakness’ in UFC champ Joshua Van’s game
