Early prelims: 6 pm eastern (3 pm Pacific)
Prelims: 8 pm eastern
Main Card: 10 pm eastern
UFC 265
Houston, Texas, Saturday, August 7, 2021
parlay
+265
Manel Kape -197
Ciryl Gane -335, 4 inch Reach advantage
Johnny Munoz -230
Rafael Fiziev -335
#UFC265
Reading material I found:
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Feb 2021:
Manel Kape is an excellent fighter and one of the best signings in 2020 by the UFC. Kape has been in the cage with the likes of Kai Asakura (twice), Ian McCall, Daniel Barez, Kyoji Horiguchi, Takeya Mizugaki, and Ulka Sasaki. He’s on a three-fight win streak beating Kai Asakura in their rematch for the vacant RIZIN title in his last fight.
Manel Kape is well-rounded but better on the feet. Though from time to time, Kape will engage in takedowns. On the mat, Kape does hold five submission victories. Along with being a submission threat, Kape scrambles very well. Even off his back, Kape is good at getting back to his feet being able to generate space and separate, or even attack with submissions off his back. On the feet, Kape displays athleticism, speed, explosiveness, and diversity. Starting on the outside, Kape will use a lot of feints before blitzing in with explosiveness and combinations with his hands. He’s really good at digging into the body mixing it up. He’s finished with a head kick before and is good at implementing kicks to control the pace of his style.
Manel Kape is a scrappy dude and that comes along with his chin being tested along the way. He goes shot to shot with opponents at times. And through it all, Kape has been wobbled, shaken, and stunned but never put away. Kape has shown to be more powerful and his chin has held up compared to the opposition he’s beat. Defensively he does need tuning everywhere but it’s tough to outwork the “Starboy.” Although he has an iron chin he still gets hit too much and his takedown defense needs some improvement.
While Kape is good off his back, as noted above, there are grapplers that can neutralize him like Ulka Sasaki was able to. That said, I only see Kape losing to top-level guys. I don’t see him as a champion but I see Manel Kape as a top 10 flyweight in the UFC.
Kape has an excellent chin and a tendency to just walk through punches.
- Striking: A
- Kickboxing: B-
- Clinch: C+
- Wrestling: C+
- Grappling: B
- Striking Defense: C+
- Takedown Defense: C+
- Cardio: B+
- Biggest Strength: On the feet
- Biggest Weakness: Striking defense
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August 2020:
Johnny Munoz is a well-accomplished grappler earning a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt by the time he was 20-years-old. He comes with a list of accolades, including being a ten-time NABJJF Gold Medalist, Grapplers Quest Advanced Champion, and a three-time No-Gi World Champion/IBJJF (Blue, Purple, Brown).
In MMA Munoz has six submission victories as a professional. A lot of time with a BJJ ace their wrestling struggles in MMA. While that’s not fully the case with Munoz he’s not exactly where he should be at. Munoz does transition to the back standing well and is capable of dropping levels. Striking his way into the clinch of his opponents is a bit of a problem, as he doesn’t cut angles but rather just walks straight in.
Once on the mat, Munoz is extremely dangerous having finished fights via various methods such as ground and pound, heel hook, rear-naked choke, and an armbar. Munoz has seamless grappling easily transitioning and getting dominant . The Hawaiian is one-dimensional being solely a grappler with next to nothing on the feet. Munoz has a decent job but plodding movement and a low stance which means he’s easily hit.
Munoz is always dangerous throughout the fight but has shown his gas tank isn’t all that deep. In my opinion, he should have gone the Contender Series route, as quality of competition is a concern, and he’s yet to be truly tested. If he was to improve in the striking department just a bit, however, he could evolve into a legit 135lb’er. Right now I see him more as a 50/50 fighter. Still a lot of talent with a somewhat high ceiling. Johnny Munoz reminds me of Jesse Arnett, a not-so-great wrestler with excellent grappling/submissions. Perhaps a tad better even.
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Feb 2019:
Rafael Fiziev was born in Kyrgyzstan, moving to Phuket, Thailand, three years ago. Now living in Thailand, he trains with the very accomplished Tiger Muay Thai & MMA camp. Fiziev had a lengthy career as a Muay Thai fighter and also is designated as a Master of Sport in hand-to-hand combat and kickboxing. “Ataman” had over 200 amateur Muay Thai bouts and now holds a pro record of 29-4. He has a long list of accomplishments including being a Kyrgyzstan Muay Thai Champion in 2007, 2008, and 2009, a Kazakhstan IFMA Muay Thai Champion, and winning the silver medal in the World IFMA Muay Thai Championship in 2009.
Ganehas an excellent vocabulary of strikes in his arsenal and fights well from both stances (although he primarily switches to southpaw in order to fire body kicks).
Going back-and-forth between his Muay Thai and MMA career, Fiziev made his MMA debut in July of 2015. While Fiziev has fought in China, South Korea, Thailand, and Kyrgyzstan, he is still working on getting his visa to fight in the United States. He was supposed to fight on the Contender Series this past summer, but the visa issue held him back. He did get a key win shortly after at Titan FC 51, earning him an outright contract with the UFC.
With his background in Muay Thai, expect a lot of knees from Fiziev, as he does a good job using that weapon. To the more casual fans, you will know Fiziev from his back-bending matrix-style avoidance of a head kick in one of his Muay Thai fights that went viral. That clip is a preview of the solid head movement he possesses in the cage.
There is no question Fiziev wants to keep the fight standing. However, he does have a submission victory and a TKO win via ground-and-pound while in the mount. You’ll rarely see “Ataman” shoot for take downs because he is so dangerous on the feet with his aforementioned knees as well as his tendency to break his opponents down with hard leg kicks. Fiziev has the power to put guys away but it’s really his speed mixed in with his crazy explosiveness and his surgical striking/kickboxing that make him special. He hasn’t fought tough competition yet, but I expect a lot out of him.
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June 2019:
Ciryl Gane is a freak athlete who is a two-time national Muay Thai champion.
I believe he is also undefeated in professional Muay Thai at 12-0.
He has all the things that are rare in most heavyweight fighters. That’s athleticism, power, size, and technique. In his three MMA bouts with one submission win, Gane has really showcased his stand-up. He has a strong straight jab he uses often and it set up the overhands that he likes to throw. Gane is unorthodox is the way he throws his strikes like a standing hammer fist and a double punch. That said, he can be a little bit wild but he throws from so many different angles it makes him hard to read. The Frenchman has shown that his Muay Thai is legit as he has excellent knees, mixing it in with his strikes well.
He’s only gone beyond the first round once in his MMA career but has done so several times in his Muay Thai career. He’s shown with the pace he throws that he has some good cardio. He’s good at range with his looping hooks, overhands, kicks, stabbing jabs, and his 83″ reach. When the fight is in close quarters he has good control, elbows, and his fantastic use of knees.
The big issue with Gane is the unknown. He’s only 3-0 and hasn’t really been tested. We don’t know he reacts when getting hit flush and more so how is he off his back. He hasn’t really ended up on his back but hasn’t had an opponent legitimately hunting for the takedown. It’s hard to say how he will do long term, but this is a fantastic signing.
- Striking: A
- Kickboxing: C
- Clinch: A
- Wrestling: D
- Grappling: D
- Striking Defense: B-
- Takedown Defense: ?
- Cardio: B-
- Biggest Strength: Muay Thai
- Biggest Weakness: Lack of Experience
Feb 2021:
Gane has an excellent vocabulary of strikes in his arsenal and fights well from both stances (although he primarily switches to southpaw in order to fire body kicks).
His speed and footwork are going to be a nightmare for most heavyweight contenders and you could see Junior Dos Santos look visibly dejected after the first round against him.
While primarily a striker, Gane possesses some grappling acumen and he defeated his first two UFC opponents by way of submission.
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Quotes of the week:
Former UFC ref John McCarthy:
“I have no problem with an interim title when you have a champion that’s out, you have a champion who is hurt and can’t compete. You don’t want that division put on hold. This is the one time where I’m going to look and say I think the UFC is wrong. Most of the time I think they’re right with their interim titles, but this one makes no sense, because it doesn’t matter who wins this fight, be it Ciryl Gane or be it Derrick Lewis. They’re both very good fighters, and I really enjoy watching both of them. I’m not going to consider them a heavyweight champion. There’s a guy named Francis Ngannou that’s sitting there, and he’s waiting, and he’s got the real belt. It doesn’t matter what happens in this fight. You can take Francis Ngannou and not even have Derrick Lewis and Ciryl Gane, and put Jon Jones, and if Jon Jones wins, Jon Jones is going to be the heavyweight champion. It doesn’t matter who wins this fight, and that’s why it doesn’t make sense for me. As an interim championship, there was no need for it.”
Ciryl Gane:
"For this fight I'm gonna do perfectly 'Bon Gamin.' I'm gonna move well. I'm gonna touch him and he never touch me. I think I'm gonna do that... I think his weakness is he's a little bit flat footed, and that's good for me. This is really good for me. I think I'm gonna move a lot on my feet and I'm gonna touch him. I'm going in out, in out.
Everybody knows what is the strength of Derrick Lewis. Everybody knows that. And he knows, he really knows that and that's why he's had some success in his former fights... That's why this guy is really dangerous. I'm gonna be careful of that.
I don’t want one fight. I don’t want one fighter. I want to fight everybody. This is a sport to me. Every fight I’ve had I’ve fought with a good feeling, not with a bad feeling. I just want to put on a great performance for the fans. No matter who [I fight], I want to do my job.
No, I think it’s going to be Francis for sure. If I beat Derrick and I have the [interim] belt, this is a ticket to be the [top] contender,” he says, shutting down the idea of defending his interim title against another contender. No, no, no. I think this makes more sense.
No, that’s not my target. That’s really not my target. Obviously, it’s better for business. But that’s really not my target,” he says of remaining undefeated. “Every time I go to the cage, every time I say, ‘Okay, I can win. But I can lose.’ Anything is possible. I don’t know what’s going to happen. So yes, I’m ready to lose. Seriously, I’m already proud of myself if I lose. I’ve never lost in my life in MMA or Muay Thai, but I’m not afraid of that. I’m really not afraid of that.”
I plan to finish the fight before the fifth round. This is my mission and I think it is achievable. This is possible, because if you look at Lewis's statistics, each of his battles - whether it is a victory or a defeat - it ends before the final bell. I will apply pressure, thow a lot of punches - I will make good statistics. If I win, I plan to do it by KO. This is my prediction."
