4 Fights We Need to See After UFC Fight Night 253

Manel Kape is finally in reach of a UFC flyweight title shot.

Angola's "Starboy," a former bantamweight champion in Japan's RIZIN Fighting Federation, has been considered a title threat in the UFC flyweight division since he debuted with the promotion since 2021. Unfortunately, a few ill-timed losses—including a setback to reigning flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja in his first Octagon appearance—have kept him out of the title conversation thus far.

That has finally changed. At Saturday's UFC Fight Night 253 event in Las Vegas, Kape picked up a third-round TKO win against the streaking Asu Almabayev to improve to 2-0 in his last two fights, and 6-1 in his last seven. At this point, a title shot may not be next, but a No. 1 contender fight almost certainly is.

While Kape was the only legitimate contender in action in the entire UFC Fight Night 253 broadcast, the card did set a few other mid-level fighters up for big opportunities, including middleweight Cody Brundage, who stopped Julian Marquez in the penultimate bout of the night.

Lightweight Nasrat Haqparast also impressed on the card, sneaking past Esteban Ribovics in a Fight of the Night winning scrap. So to do Chepe Mariscal, a rising contender in the welterweight division, who improved to 5-0 with a decision win over Ricardo Ramos.

Here's what we're hoping is next for Kape, as well as Brundage, Haqparast, and Mariscal.

Manel Kape vs. Brandon Royval

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Manel Kape wasn't originally supposed to fight Asu Almabayev at UFC Fight Night 253. He was originally matched up with Brandon Royval in what was clear a No. 1 contender fight in the division. Unfortunately, that fight fell through when Royval suffered an injury.

While Kape's short-notice win over Almabayev, who was ranked No. 8 in the division heading into the fight, could be enough to earn him a rematch with Pantoja, there's one key factor working against him: Royval arguably deserves the opportunity more.

Granted, Royval has lost to Pantoja twice before, but he is riding wins over former champ Brandon Moreno and fellow contender Tatsuro Taira, who had never been beaten until they met. Those wins were both split-decisions, but they came against very solid opposition—better, arguably, than anyone Kape has beaten recently.

If Royval needs more time to recover from his injury, then it makes sense to give Kape a title shot. However, if Royval is nearly healthy, it makes more sense to reschedule their fight at the earliest possible juncture, and give the winner a crack at the title.

Of course, it's also been rumored that Kai Kara-France, who is 1-2 in his last three, could get the next shot at Pantoja. In the unlikely event that Kara-France wins that potential matchup, the title picture could get quite crowded, as Pantoja would probably be given an immediate rematch before Pantoja or Royval got the their opportunity.

Cody Brundage vs. Dustin Stoltzfus

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After his first-round win over Julian Marquez at UFC Fight Night 253, Cody Brundage is 5-5 in the UFC. Anything is possible, but that record effectively proves that he will never get anywhere near a title shot in the middleweight division.

That being said, Brundage has proven to be a very reliable source of entertainment, and will probably be booked for fan-friendly matchups for as long as he remains in the UFC.

Our pick for his next opponent is Dustin Stoltzfus.

Stoltzfus, like Brundage, has been far too inconsistent in the Octagon to get anywhere near a title shot, let alone the rankings, with a disappointing 3-5 Octagon record. However, he has been pretty entertaining no matter the outcome of his fights, and after a stunning knockout win over durable Canadian Marc-Andre Barriault in his last bout, deserves a scrap with somebody else riding a big win. Brundage seems like just the guy.

Nasrat Haqparast vs. Mateusz Rebecki

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

After his split-decision win over Esteban Ribovics at UFC Fight Night 253, Nasrat Haqparast is a strong 10-4 in the Octagon, including wins in his last five fights. That's pretty impressive on its own, but when you consider that his losses have come against Drew Dober, Dan Hooker, King Green and Marcin Held—all battle-tested veterans with impressive accolades—it becomes even clearer that he is a very high-level talent. And he's still not even 30.

While it remains to be seen how far Haqparast can go in the UFC lightweight division, he's probably just one win away from a fight with a top-15 opponent—if he hasn't earned that opportunity already.

Our pick for his next opponent is Poland's Mateusz Rebecki who, after a commendable title run in his home country's Fight Exclusive Night promotion, is now 4-1 in the UFC, with stoppage wins over decent opponents like Roosevelt Roberts and PFL export Loik Radzhabov. Like Haqparast, he also won a Fight of the Night bonus in his last fight, a split-decision victory over Myktybek Orolbai, so we can probably expect a pretty fun fight if these two are matched up.

Chepe Mariscal vs. Calvin Kattar

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The UFC featherweight division might not be as stacked as the lightweight or bantamweight divisions right now, but it's still one of the UFC's deeper divisions. With so much talent competing in the weight class, prolonged win-streaks are a definite rarity, which makes Chepe Mariscal's perfect 5-0 Octagon record all the more impressive. Considering he also won his last three fights before joining the UFC—bringing his actual streak to eight-straight—it's probably time to give him a crack at somebody ranked on the outer edge of the division's top 15.

The best choice would probably be No. 15-ranked contender Dan Ige, who he was matched up with to no avail last year. However, Ige is already booked for a fight with another rising contender in Sean Woodson, so let's match Mariscal up with Calvin Kattar.

Kattar has been a fixture of the featherweight top-15 for years, but after four consecutive losses, is at risk of losing his spot in the rankings. We already suggested him as an opponent for Jean Silva, but after Silva was matched up with Bryce Mitchell, who is miraculously still in the UFC despite some truly disturbing comments, it makes sense to give Kattar to Mariscal.