Every fighter has their go-to moves, especially specialists within certain martial arts disciplines. Their own signature styles can lead to spectacular finishes. Whether it’s a scary-good rear-naked choke that fighters just can’t seem to avoid once going to the ground or crazy power in a straight left hand that has dropped even granite-chinned fighters with ease, each fighter has a particular finishing move or sequence. Moves that have stuck in fan’s minds and come to define and describe their careers within the cage.
For UFC Vegas 18 we will take a look at some fighters with only a few (5 or less) fights in the UFC, rather than those fighters that are long-time UFC veterans with a bunch of finishes with the promotion.
Manel “Starboy” Kape (15-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC)
Total Number of Pro MMA Finishes: 14
Via KO/TKO: 9
Via Submission: 5
Total Number of UFC Finishes: 0
Via KO/TKO: 0
Via Submission: 0
Manel Kape is a veteran of the RIZIN organization based out of Japan. Kape has faced some very high level competition in his MMA career thus far. Kape holds stoppage wins over UFC veterans Ian McCall and Takeya Mizugaki.
Kape is extremely fast and aggressive, with his hands and hand speed being one of his greatest attributes. Manel cuts some good angles, by utilizing his quick footwork, in order to set up good combinations on his opponents. Manel also knows how to pick his shots, and often goes to the body with punches before looking to land on the head.
Manel’s last fight was at the tail end of 2019, when he finished Kai Asakura (the man who KO’d Kyoji Horiguchi), in the second round via punches to earn the TKO. With the stoppage, Kape captured the RIZIN bantamweight title. Kape is going to be an interesting addition to the UFC, and opponents cannot only be on the lookout for his striking but his submission grappling as well.
Manel Kape promised a KO, and that's exactly what he did as he takes out the veteran Takeya Mizugaki with one punch in round two. #RIZIN18 pic.twitter.com/jKamYA4uKI
— Mike Shytte (@MikeLovesTacosX) August 18, 2019
