| UFC Fight Night: Kape vs. Almabayev | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC Fight Night: Kape vs. Almabayev | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | March 1, 2025 (2025-03-01) | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | Not announced[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC Fight Night: Kape vs. Almabayev (also known asUFC Fight Night 253 andUFC Vegas 103 andUFC on ESPN+ 111) was a mixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on March 1, 2025, at theUFC Apex inEnterprise, Nevada, part of theLas Vegas Valley, United States.[2]
AUFC Flyweight title eliminator between formerLFA Flyweight Champion (also former title challenger)Brandon Royval and formerRIZIN Bantamweight ChampionManel Kape was expected to headline the event.[3][4] However, Royval withdrew due to multiple concussions.[5][6] He was replaced byAsu Almabayev.[7] Albamayev was originally expected to face former flyweight title challengerSteve Erceg at the event,[8] but the latter was moved to headlineUFC on ESPN: Moreno vs. Erceg and replaced by Allan Nascimento.[9][10] Nascimento was in turn pulled from the event after the latest changes.[7]
A middleweight bout betweenCody Brundage andThe Ultimate Fighter: Team Grasso vs. Team Shevchenko middleweight winner Ryan Loder was scheduled for this event.[11] However, Loder withdrew from the fight for unknown reasons and was replaced byJulian Marquez.[12]
A women's flyweight bout betweenMontana De La Rosa andLuana Carolina was scheduled for this event.[13] However, the bout was scrapped as a result of Carolina's botched weight cut.[14]
In addition, a bantamweight bout betweenDouglas Silva de Andrade andJohn Castañeda was scheduled for this event.[15] However, despite having the bout changed to a 140 pound catchweight bout, the fight was cancelled as Silva de Andrade did not have medical clearance to compete.[16]
At the weigh-ins, Lucas Almeida weighed in at 148 pounds, two pounds over the featherweight non-title fight limit. The bout proceeded at catchweight and Almeida was fined 20 percent of his purse which went to his opponent Danny Silva.[17]
| Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Flyweight | Manel Kape | def. | Asu Almabayev | TKO (retirement) | 3 | 2:16 | |
| Middleweight | Cody Brundage | def. | Julian Marquez | TKO (punches) | 1 | 4:45 | |
| Lightweight | Nasrat Haqparast | def. | Esteban Ribovics | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Hyder Amil | def. | William Gomis | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Sam Patterson | def. | Danny Barlow | KO (punches) | 1 | 3:10 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Mário Pinto | def. | Austen Lane | KO (punch) | 2 | 0:39 | |
| Featherweight | Chepe Mariscal | def. | Ricardo Ramos | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (148 lb) | Danny Silva | def. | Lucas Almeida | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Flyweight | JJ Aldrich | def. | Andrea Lee | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Flyweight | Ramazan Temirov | def. | Charles Johnson | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[19]
