Manel Kape earns $50,000 bonus for UFC Vegas 103 win despite concerns that he 'cheated' to land KO victory
Yesterday at 12:26 AM
Manel Kape was awarded a $50,000 bonus for his win at UFC Vegas 103, despite many feeling he got there through cheating.
Kape scored a controversial KO over Asu Almabayev at the Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night after two instances that had fans convinced he had raked his rival’s eye. Perhaps not as blatant as last weekend’s UFC Seattle stoppage, there was still uproar when highlights were shown on the broadcast.
The number six-ranked flyweight is now the likely next contender after Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Kara-France do battle later this year. It is expected that they will compete at UFC 316, with Pantoja potentially leaking details of the showdown on the post-fight show.
Manel Kape’s UFC Vegas 103 win was controversial
For the majority of the three rounds that they were fighting, Manel Kape seemed to have the perfect game plan for the seeimngly unbeatable Asu Almabayev. The Kazakh rising star hadn’t lost in 17 outings, four of which were under the UFC banner.
Kape masterfully controlled distance and got in with big shots in the early stages, but controversy struck as it headed towards a finish. In the second there was an eye poke stoppage that was quickly overturned by a replay official, although later angles seemed to indicate that his rival’s eye had been grazed.
And in the third Kape seemed to swipe at Almabayev’s eye again in a move that wasn’t called. Moments later, he pushed forward and put his opponent down, ultimately ending the fight and scoring a bonus-winning KO.
Fans on social media believed that Kape had ‘cheated’ to win the fight, with one writing that the win was particularly egregious given that it stifles top contenders. “That was the worst kind of fight,” the fan wrote amid a sea of tweets about the controversy.
“Kape cheats. He will never win a title because he can't even beat someone Mokaev's level, but he will knock off prospects and eye poke his way to title eliminators.”
UFC Vegas 103 awards see $200,000 split between four fighters
It is customary for UFC events to offer a series of bonus awards, which all number at $50,000. They are usually selected by promotional boss Dana White for a number of ‘Performance of the Night’ winners and the two competitors in what was deemed fight of the night.
Manel Kape’s stoppage finish was certainly impressive, and if it weren’t for the controversy would have been an obvious choice. After all, he did manage to end Almabayev’s 17-fight undefeated streak in one of just three finishes on the night.
Unfortunately for Sam Patterson his knockout win over the previously unbeaten Danny Barlow wasn’t deemed enough, nor was Cody Brundage’s win over Julian Marquez.
Instead, Mario Pinto’s stunning KO against ex-NFL star Austen Lane and the fight between Nasrat Haqparast and Esteban Ribovics were both paid out.
