They’ve been booked twice already this year, and the UFC is no doubt hoping the third time will be the charm for Brandon Royval vs. Manel Kape.
A highly anticipated battle of top 10 flyweights, Royval (17-8) versus Kape (21-7) is now set to headline a UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas on December 13, 2025. That date will mark the final UFC event on ESPN, as the promotion makes the jump to streaming service Paramount+ in 2026 as its new U.S. broadcast home.
The bout was originally scheduled for a Fight Night card on March 1, 2025, then shifted to June’s UFC 317 after Royval was injured. The second pairing was also nixed; that time around, it was Kape withdrawing due to injury.
Eurosport was first to report the third booking, with Bradon Royval confirming the date on social media. The December 13 event at the UFC Apex will be UFC Vegas 112 as things stand.
Royval would go on to face Joshua Van on short notice at UFC 317, losing a Fight of the Night-winning thriller. Prior to that, he’d won back-to-back fights against Tatsuro Taira and ex-flyweight champ Brandon Moreno.
In 2019, Brandon Royval faced off with flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja, losing a unanimous decision after five rounds.
Kape, a former RIZIN star, is 6-1 across his last seven fights, with the lone loss in that span coming against Muhammad Mokaev, since exiled by the UFC. He’s finished Bruno Silva and Asu Almabayev in his last two outings.
Since arriving in the UFC in 2020, Manel Kape has seen no fewer than 11 bookings cancelled.
Royval sits at #3 and Kape at #7 in the UFC’s flyweight division.
