Former RIZIN bantamweight champ Manuel Kape’s UFC debut will have to wait a little longer.
Kape’s scheduled debut versus flyweight veteran Alexandre Pantoja has been scratched from UFC Vegas 17, which takes place Dec. 19 at UFC APEX in Las Vegas. MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz confirmed with multiple people close the promotion that Pantoja was removed from the card for undisclosed reasons.
A UFC official also told MMA Fighting the bout may be rescheduled to sometime in February, though nothing has been confirmed yet.
Kape knocked out Seiichiro Ito, Takeya Mizugaki and Kai Asakura inside the RIZIN ring to in capture the Japanese promotion’s vacant 135-pound title.