Manel Cape's return to the Octagon in 2024 has been postponed once again.
The UFC flyweight contender withdrew from his bout with Mateusz Nicolaou, who was scheduled to headline the UFC Fight Night event on April 27 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Now, veteran Alex Perez has been removed from the scheduled matchup and will face Nicolaou in his place.
The news is announced It was announced by the promotion on Tuesday and later independently confirmed by MMA Junkie.
Kape (19-6 MMA, 4-2 UFC) and Nicolaou (19-4-1 MMA, 7-2 UFC) were originally scheduled to have a rematch in January, but Kape lost 3.5 pounds. The match was therefore called off. Cape has had a number of canceled matches in recent years, with only one match in 2022 and another in 2023.
Nicolaou became the last fighter to defeat Kape with a split decision win in March 2021. Nicolau is looking to bounce back from a loss to former title challenger Brandon Roybal that ended the 31-year-old's winning streak at six.
Perez (24-8 MMA, 6-4 UFC), who will replace Kape, will also be looking to bounce back from his loss. “Turbo” was scheduled to fight Tagir Ulanbekov on June 15th before the fight was rescheduled to fight Nikolaou. The former UFC title challenger returns from a unanimous decision loss to Muhamad Mokaev in March. He is currently on a three-game losing streak, with his last win coming in 2020.
The story originally appeared on MMA Junkie
