UFC 293 promises to have a City Kickboxing feel with it being in Australia and tonight, we learned of the first City Kickboxing representative that’ll be on the card. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto first reported that top ten flyweights Kai Kara-France (24-11) and Manel Kape (18-6) will fight on September 9th.
For Manel Kape, this will be his first fight of the year assuming this one holds together. Kape was originally supposed to face Alex Perez back in March. However, Perez pulled out of the fight due to a medical issue on the day of the fight.
Kape was then booked against former UFC champion Deiveson Figueiredo, but Figgy had to pull out of the bout after not being medically cleared. Now, we are looking at September for Kape’s 2023 debut. He will have entered the octagon on a three-fight winning streak.
However, Kape just wants to fight more than anything. Three of his last four fights have been cancelled, two of which occurred during fight week. This is a huge opportunity for him to come play spoiler for City Kickboxing’s Kai Kara-France.
UFC 293
Whenever the UFC goes to Australia or New Zealand, you know that City Kickboxing is going to represent. Kai Kara-France plans on doing that as he also looks to snap a two-fight losing streak. Granted, the last loss he had was a bit controversial.
Kara-France just fought a couple of weeks ago in a headliner against Amir Albazi. Virtually anyone who watched the fight thought that KKF won the fight. However, two judges gave the win and the fight to Amir Albazi which was a huge blow to Kara-France.
Kara-France now has lost two in a row officially and needs to get back in the win column. Prior to the losses, he had won three fights in a row. Kape is a very dangerous opponent so it’s not an easy challenge, but it’s one Kara-France needs to get by if he wants to get back into UFC title contention.