The main event for UFC Vegas 103 proved that Manel Kape was a man to be feared in the flyweight division. Not only did he win against Asu Almabayev with a KO in the third round, but he did so with a dominant stance. The third round even witnessed the Khazakh fighter turning his tail and running away from Kape. But the Angolan mixed martial artist caught up with him and finished the job, securing a knockout win, and probably a cleared path to fight Alexandre Pantoja for the flyweight championship title. But there was a catch. Not everyone seemed to believe that Kape deserved the win.

Well, in the first round, ‘StarBoy’ wiped at ‘Zulfikhar’s eye while trying to punch. This apparently left Almabayev with a scratch in his left eye. But this wasn’t the only time when this happened. Kape had locked the target in on Almabayev’s left eye. And his hits managed to open a cut around the organ. This managed to diminish the Khazikh fighter’s visibility, and impaired his fighting ability. 

By the beginning of the second round, we could see that Almabayev’s left eye had taken quite some damage. It was all red with blood and the way he stood against Kape was indeed worthy of appreciation. But towards the end of the round, Kape executed a spinning kick making Almabayev run. However, ‘Zulfikhar’ signalled Mike Beltran that he got poked in the eye. The fight was stopped momentarily, after which Kape charged with his fists flying till the horn announced the end of round 2. In the third round, Almabayev claimed that he got eye poked yet again. But all he could do was run away and let Kape seemingly get away with a couple of eye scrapes. 

While the referee in charge didn’t seem to pay much attention to it, the fighting community was furious. X boomed with comments and tweets that dissed the bout, the referee and Kape. Let’s see what the fans and professionals had to say. 

Fans and professionals diss Manel Kape’s victory over Asu Almabayev at UFC Vegas 103

Some of the fight fans claimed that ‘StarBoy’ was indeed cheating his way to victory. One of the tweets went like, “Manel Kape is a cheating m***** freak.” Meanwhile, many stood against the referee in charge, Mike Beltran, claiming that he was the worst referee ever. A tweet read, “Mike Beltran is the worst ref in history.” 

Well, that was because the referee missed noticing the eye pokes sent by Kape. One fan pointed out, “Oh there were definitely eye pokes there. Welp.” Another fight fan claimed, “Pivotal eye pokes in the main event again.” Of course, this was in reference to the bout between Song Yadong and Henry Cejudo at UFC Fight Night 252 last weekend. In the replies to the tweet, Ariel Helwani swooped in to share his views. He wrote, “Yup. Ref missed em. Tough spot for Almabayev. Unfortunately, as long as there are fingerless gloves this will always happen.”

Nevertheless, many others stood in support of ‘StarBoy’s performance at UFC Fight Night 253. The former bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling, gave a shoutout to Kape for his phenomenal victory. He tweeted, “Manel Kape fights for the belt next!! Great performance!” The famed MMA reporter, Damon Martin, tweeted, “Manel Kape is truly realizing his potential. He’s a problem. Give that man a title shot.”

What are your thoughts on the fight between Kape and Almabayev? Do you think the referee should have deducted points from Kape’s scores because of the eyepokes? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.