MMA Fighting - Reaction: Manel Kape Badly Misses Weight, Matheus Nicolau Fight OFF UFC Vegas 84

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

MMA Fighting's Mike Heck drops a breaking news update after Manel Kape's 3.5 pound weight miss led to his UFC Vegas 84 co-main event bout with Matheus Nicolau to be cancelled altogether. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. Listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, Mike Heck here from MMAfighting.com reacting to some breaking news on this Friday afternoon, as you probably heard during our UFC Vegas 84 preview show, flyway contender Minal Kopp missed weight by

three and a half pounds ahead of his scheduled co-made event bout with Mateus Nikolao, set to go down tomorrow at the UFC Apex. Now initially, it was announced that the fight would move forward with cop forfeiting 25% of his purse to Nikolao.

Now, we confirmed with UFC officials. UFC even announced that themselves. The fight is now off the card all together. And that just adds to a pretty tough 24 hours or so for emerging contenders in the UFC flyweight division. We found it on Thursday night that Amir al-Bazi suffered an injury and his big opportunity to earn a title shot against Brandon Moreno. No longer happening. Morano now faces Brandon Royval in the main event of UFC Mexico City in February. And now Manel Cop misses weight badly. It's the second time missing weight in the UFC and his chance to maybe leapfrog

Brandon Moreno in Amir Al-Bazi in the championship hunt to get a rematch with Alexander Pentosia. That is now off the table. Now, Manal Cap around 4.20 p.m. Eastern time, went to Instagram and posted a statement about the bout being canceled. And here's what he had to say. Guys, I couldn't make the weight this time. Two weeks ago, I was extremely sick.

due to a virus that happened here in Las Vegas, and I had to stay out of training for five days and filling myself with antibiotics. Not only affected me, but many of my training partners. My coaches and my manager thought it was better for me to cancel the fight due to the state I was in, but I decided to move on and not cancel. My opponent didn't accept the fight or accept my purse.

I would give him my entire purse if he wants to fight, but things are as they are, and I take all the responsibilities. Last year, I had five fights canceled, one of them my opponent was 11 pounds above. Even so, I agreed to fight. Thank you to all the nutritious at the UFCPI. You tried everything for me to make the weight.

See you guys soon. So that's the response from Minnell Kopp. As of now, no response, no statement from Mateus Nikolao on whether or not what Kapp had to say is true. But I have to say, and I felt the same way about when Michelle Pereira missed weight for the Stephen Wonderboy Thompson fight, I don't blame Mateus Nicolao one bit for not taking this fight if that's what actually happened. Because whether or not you scored it for Cop in their first meeting,

Nicolao holds a win over Minnell Cop already. It's in the books. If you go to Tapology or you go to Wiki, it's a green mark next to Minel Cap's name for Mateus Nicolao. On top of that, three and a half pounds at flyweight is a lot. It's a big difference at 125 compared to some of the other weight classes. And for a guy who is hanging on by a thread in terms of one day getting to a title fight, you got to be very smart with how you handle yourself and the decisions that you make.

Now, could the UFC penalize him in some way like they try to do it, Stephen Wonderboy Thompson, perhaps? But I think right now I do not blame Mateus Nicolao one bit if that's what actually happened here. and when the UFC first announced that the fight was going to move forward with the 25% fine for a Medell Cop, I was kind of surprised by that. I felt like that number was too low. And if you were going to take the fight, it would probably have to be a little bit higher. So who knows what the actual story is.

But it seems like cop explained why he missed weight and, you know, maybe poked and prod it a little bit at Nicolao for not taking the fight. But again, I don't blame Nicolao at all for not taking the fight if that's what actually happened. It's just been a tough run for Cop. Comes over to the UFC from Risen with big fanfare, loses his first two fights. One of them, a controversial decision to Nicolao, bounces back with two big first round finishes in 2021. And since then, eight fights on the books for Minnell Cop, yet only two Octagon appearances. So there you have it, everybody. Manel Cop versus Mateus Nicolao.

off of UFC Vegas 84 and we will see if the UFC will go ahead and try to rebook this fight. I don't know if they will, but either way, we will see where both fighters go from here. And 2024 is going to be a very interesting year for the flyweight division. And right now, Alexander Pantosia is probably wondering, what am I going to do next? What if Brandon Royval beats Brandon Moreno? Then who's Pantosier going to fight? But right now, Brandon Moreno certainly in the driver's seat and a win over Brandon Royval will get him an opportunity more than likely at this point to exact some revenge on

Pantosia who already holds three wins over him, including their fight on the ultimate fighter. But I am Mike Keck. Thank you for listening. Stick with us at M.AFighting.com for all things, UFC Vegas 84 and beyond. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.