LAS VEGAS – After stringing together his first winning streak in the UFC, Manel Kape is on the path to flyweight gold.
Kape (17-6 MMA, 2-2 UFC), who dropped his first two UFC bouts, scored his second consecutive first-round finish this past Saturday when he put Zhalgas Zhumagulov away at UFC on ESPN 31.
The former Rizin FF bantamweight champion is finally living up to his potential and now sees a fast route to the title.
“Two fights, I’m the biggest name in flyweight,” Kape told MMA Junkie following Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 31 event. “I came here, I was champion before, and my first fight was for backup for the fight. This is the business that I have with the UFC. To be a champion, I’m beautiful like a champion, I talk like a champion, I dress like a champion. Nobody has my style, nobody talks like me, nobody is more beautiful than me, so I have all the package to be a champion.”
In a revived UFC flyweight division, those are strong words coming from Kape. But where does all that confidence come from? The 28-year-old says it was instilled in him from a young age.
“From training, from hard work,” Kape said. “It’s destiny. My father was a former world champion, I was a former world champion, too. This is something that belongs in my family, in my blood, in my destiny.”
To hear the full interview with Kape, check out the video above.
After UFC on ESPN 31 win, Manel Kape believes he has ‘all the package to be a champion’
