UFC Fight Night: Kape vs. Horiguchi Preview: Full Fight Card Breakdown
Nine years ago, Kyoji Horiguchi submitted Manel Kape at Rizin World Grand Prix 2017. On June 20, Kape gets his shot at revenge — and the winner of that flyweight main event at Meta Apex in Las Vegas steps to the front of the queue for Joshua Van's UFC flyweight title.
This is the flyweight division making noise. Van is holding the belt, Horiguchi has returned from eight years in Japan and gone 2-0, and Kape has put together back-to-back finishes to force this fight. One of them will be the next clear number-one contender when the night is over.
Full Fight Card
| Fight | Weight Class | Card Section |
|---|---|---|
| Manel Kape vs. Kyoji Horiguchi | Flyweight | Main Card |
| Ion Cutelaba vs. Navajo Stirling | Light Heavyweight | Main Card |
| Vinicius Oliveira vs. Andre Fili | Featherweight | Main Card |
| Hyder Amil vs. Christian Rodriguez | Featherweight | Main Card |
| André Lima vs. Kevin Borjas | Flyweight | Main Card |
| Melsik Baghdasaryan vs. Murtazali Magomedov | Featherweight | Main Card |
| Beatriz Mesquita vs. Melissa Mullins | Women's Bantamweight | Preliminary Card |
| Mitch Raposo vs. Allan Nascimento | Flyweight | Preliminary Card |
| Michael Aswell vs. Gaston Bolanos | Featherweight | Preliminary Card |
| Karol Rosa vs. Luana Santos | Women's Bantamweight | Preliminary Card |
| Leon Shahbazyan vs. Levan Chokheli | Welterweight | Preliminary Card |
| Shane Collins vs. Otari Tanzilov | Featherweight | Preliminary Card |
Main Event: Manel Kape vs. Kyoji Horiguchi — Flyweight
Horiguchi left the UFC in 2017 as one of the best flyweights in the world. He spent eight years in Japan dominating Rizin and Bellator, winning dual championships across both promotions. He came back to the Octagon in November 2025 and has been efficient about it: a submission win over Tagir Ulanbekov, then a unanimous decision over Amir Albazi in February 2026. Two fights, two wins, no close rounds. He enters as the -400 favorite.
Kape has done everything right on his side. After a slump in 2022, he rebuilt himself into one of the division's most dangerous finishers. He knocked out Asu Almabayev in March 2025, then stopped Brandon Royval inside the first round in December — as dominant a main event performance as 125 pounds has produced in months. He is listed at +300 and is the underdog precisely because the market respects what Horiguchi can do once the fight hits the canvas.
The 2017 fight is the frame for everything here. Horiguchi took Kape down repeatedly and finished him with an arm-triangle choke in round three. Kape knows that story and has spent years becoming a harder fight on the feet. But Horiguchi's grappling has not gone away, and one takedown changes the dynamic of the entire main event. The winner fights Joshua Van for the flyweight title. That is the prize on the line.
Co-Main Event: Ion Cutelaba vs. Navajo Stirling — Light Heavyweight
Navajo Stirling walks in at 9-0 with four consecutive UFC finishes, trained at City Kickboxing in Auckland — the same gym that produced Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski, and light heavyweight champion Carlos Ulberg. He is 6'4", physically dominant, and has been moved steadily up the competition ladder. His most recent win came by second-round TKO at UFC Seattle in March 2026.
Ion Cutelaba knows exactly what this fight is. He has been the test that undefeated light heavyweight prospects face, and he has passed that test on more than one occasion. He went 20-11-1 over a career built on first-round explosions, returned in March 2026 with a first-round submission of Oumar Sy to end a losing run, and enters this fight as a genuine threat if the early moments go his way.
For Stirling, surviving Cutelaba's opening pressure is the first objective. The City Kickboxing system has produced champions; the question June 20 answers is whether Stirling is on that track.
Notable Bouts
Vinicius Oliveira vs. Andre Fili — Featherweight, Main Card
Oliveira has gone 4-0 inside the UFC at bantamweight and makes his featherweight debut here. Moving from 135 to 145 pounds is a size jump that tests different things, and Fili — a UFC featherweight since 2013 — is a credible first challenge at the new weight. Fili stepped in on short notice after Giga Chikadze was forced off the card. Short-notice veteran versus a bantamweight moving up — the outcome tells you something real either way.
Karol Rosa vs. Luana Santos — Women's Bantamweight, Preliminary Card
This is a ranked fight with direct divisional implications. Rosa sits at eighth in the 135-pound rankings with a 19-7 record, a Brazilian veteran with output and clinch work. Santos is ranked fourteenth at 25 years old, fast combinations, opportunistic off the scramble. Both women need this win. A loss puts them further from the title conversation; a win pushes them into the frame. Women's bantamweight moves ranking positions fast when results come in, and this is the kind of matchup that shapes the next six months of that division.
What to Watch
The main event has two clear paths. If it stays standing, this is a genuine contest — Kape's striking has been elite all year and he can match anyone in the division on the feet. If Horiguchi lands a takedown, the grappling threat that ended the first fight becomes real again. Watch the early exchanges: Kape needs to land hard enough to make Horiguchi think twice about shooting, and Horiguchi needs to show the takedown is still there before Kape settles in.
At light heavyweight, Cutelaba's opening sixty seconds are the test. Stirling has trained for exactly this moment; whether the training covers the reality of Cutelaba in full aggression is a different question.
UFC Fight Night: Kape vs. Horiguchi goes live from the Meta Apex in Las Vegas on June 20, with prelims at 5 PM ET and the main card at 8 PM ET on Paramount+.