Manel Kape vs. Matheus Nicolau removed from UFC Vegas 84

UFC Vegas 84 has taken a major hit as the co-main event between Manel Kape and Matheus Nicolau is off the card.

Kape missed weight on Friday morning, hitting the scale at 129.5lbs. Originally, it was reported that the fight would continue as Kape was fined 25 percent of his purse. However, shortly thereafter, MMAJunkie reporter Nolan King reported the fight is now off. At this time, it’s uncertain what caused the fight to be scratched after Nicolau had accepted 25% of Kape’s purse.

https://twitter.com/mma_kings/status/1745906862346702862

Manel Kape (19-6) was entering UFC Vegas 84 on a four-fight win streak and was coming off a decision win over Felipe dos Santos in his most recent effort at UFC 293 in September. Kape is ranked sixth at flyweight and on the win streak, he beat David Dvorak by decision, Zhalgas Zhumagulov by TKO, and Ode Osbourne by KO.

Kape is the former RIZIN bantamweight champion and in his UFC debut in 2021, he suffered a decision loss to Alexandre Pantoja. He then lost a controversial decision to Matheus Nicolau before going on the four-fight win streak.

Matheus Nicolau (19-3-1) had his six-fight win streak snapped back in April when he suffered a first-round knockout loss to Brandon Royval. The loss was also his first since rejoining the UFC after a two-fight stint in Brave CF where he went 2-0. On the win streak, Nicolau beat Matt Schnell by KO, David Dvorak by decision, Tim Elliott by decision, and Manel Kape by decision, while also beating Felipe Efrain and Alan Gabriel in Brave CF.

In his first UFC stint, Nicolau went 3-1, as he started his tenure going 3-0 with wins over Bruno Mesquita, John Moraga, and Louis Smolka but was KO’d by Dustin Ortiz and was released.

With Manel Kape vs. Matheus Nicolau off, UFC Vegas 84 is as follows:

• Magomed Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker
• Jim Miller vs. Gabriel Benitez
• Ricky Simon vs. Mario Bautista
• Phil Hawes vs. Brunno Ferreira
• Andrei Arlovski vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta
• Matthew Semeslberger vs. Preston Parsons
• Marcus McGhee vs. Gaston Bolanos
• Farid Basharat vs. Taylor Lapilus
• Westin Wilson vs. Jean Silva
• Tom Nolan vs. Nikolas Motta
• Felipe Burns vs. Joshua Van