UFC On ESPN: Royval vs. Kape Predictions

UFC On ESPN: Royval vs. Kape takes place on Sunday (AEDT) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, United States – and we’ve got our UFC predictions for all the fights below, and you can place your bets with the best betting sites Australia has to offer!

UFC On ESPN: Royval vs. Kape Predictions

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Brandon Royval vs. Manel Kape Prediction

Brandon Royval is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Joshua Van in his only other fight in 2025, and now headlines the final event of the year against Manel Kape, who has delivered back-to-back TKO victories.

This fight was originally supposed to happen back in February, but was called off when it emerged the 33-year-old Royval had suffered a couple of concussions in training and was still experiencing symptoms some time afterwards. With that in mind it was somewhat surprising to see him back in action as early as June against the in-form Van, but it didn’t make him change his ways as the bout proved to be a war, to the extent that the two broke the record for most significant strikes in a flyweight fight (419). Royval lost, but did make it to the final bell. That being said, he was dropped very near the end, and so while he’s never been stopped in a pro-fight, you do have to wonder how long he can keep that record intact. This is the way he’s wired though, as he thrives on fighting at a high-tempo with an offensively-minded game-plan that sees him throw everything but the kitchen sink at his opponent on the feet. Despite that he’s not actually a big finisher on the feet and relies on his volume to make up the difference, but his similarly action-orientated ground game has proven fruitful, with his mix of scrambling and submission attempts having produced nine stoppage wins.

The 32-year-old Kape is a fast, dynamic flyweight who has potent punching power and has also been able to find impressive finishes with kicks and knees to both the head and body. Kape is typically not as active offensively as Royval though, preferring to pick his moment to execute a potentially fight-ending moment. Meanwhile, Kape is capable on the mat and did claim some submission wins much earlier in his career, but typically he prefers to keep the action upright where he is more comfortable and more of a threat.

Kape is faster and much harder-hitting than Royval, and in-between the frenetic volume striking coming his way I think he will be able to pick out his moments to land big counter-strikes, resulting in a TKO stoppage in the 2nd round.

Manel Kape to win by TKO in Rd2

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Giga Chikadze vs. Kevin Vallejos Prediction

Giga Chikadze comes in off back-to-back defeats to take the co-main event spot opposite Kevin Vallejos, who is 2-0 in the UFC so far.

Chikadze had over 50 kickboxing bouts under his belt competing for the likes of Glory before he arrived in the UFC back in 2019. He hit the ground running in the Octagon with seven wins in a row, showing off his technical striking, including dynamic, hard-hitting kicks to all levels and good boxing, while managing to avoid having to use his less seasoned ground game. However, things haven’t gone so well for him in recent years, with repeated injuries having resulted in him only competing once a year, and with only one win to show from his last four fights. Chikadze is now 37-years-old and only just hanging onto the No.15 spot on the 145lb rankings, so there will be concerns that his career is on the verge of fizzling out, but he’ll still have a big experience advantage here as well as being 5″ taller than Vallejos, along with an extra 6″ in reach.

Vallejos is a Contender Series recruit out of Argentina who is still only 23-years-old, yet has already amassed a 16-1 career record. It’s also worth noting his only loss was in his first appearance on the Contender’s show, a unanimous decision defeat that has aged well given that his opponent was Jean Silva, who has since made a big impact in the UFC. Vallejos is a compact, hard-hitting and durable boxer who can mix in kicks too, does a good job of applying pressure and has a solid finishing rate, with 11 of his 16 career wins coming via strikes. And while it’s not his strongest suit Vallejos does have a couple of submission wins on his record too.

Chikadze is 14 years older than Vallejos and may be on the slide, but he’s still never been finished in his career via strikes, and he’ll be looking to make the most of his reach and agile kicks to keep the younger man at bay. The pressure, aggression and higher output from Vallejos will make it harder for the veteran to implement his kicking game though, and I he might even look to mix in the threat of a takedown too in order to help swing the fight in his favor and emerge with a decision victory.

Kevin Vallejos to win by Decision

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Cesar Almeida vs. Cezary Oleksiejczuk Prediction

Cesar Almeida has gone 3-1 in the UFC so far and now takes on Cezary Oleksiejczuk, who was just recruited from the Contender Series a few months ago.

The 37-year-old Almeida spent much of his career competing in high-level kickboxing for promotions like Glory and WGP. He amassed well over 50 fights along the way, including having a win over UFC two-division champ Alex Pereira back in 2015, although it should be noted that Pereira did beat him both before and after that. Still, that helped eventually pave the way for him to get a chance on the Contender Series in 2023 after just three MMA fights on the regional circuit. He’s performed capably so far in the Octagon, including a 1st round KO finish last time out, but he did lose in his only fight against a notable opponent so far in Roman Kopylov last year. As you’d expect Almeida is a well-versed technical striker with solid power in his kicks and punches, but though he’s tried to develop his ground game it’s still clearly very much a work in progress at this relatively late stage in his career.

The 25-year-old Oleksiejczuk had an extensive amateur background and holds a 16-3 pro-record that was largely spent fighting on the Polish regional circuit. While there he managed to beat former UFC fighters in Chris Fishgold and Tom Breese, and is now one of the top-ranked prospects out of Europe. Oleksiejczuk, whose older brother Michal also competes in the UFC, is typically a fighter who likes to start fast and the vast majority of his 11 stoppage wins have come in the opening round. That being said, he has also shown that he can manage his cardio as on the three occasions that he’s gone five full rounds he’s emerged victorious.

Oleksiejczuk is 12-years younger here, but has a lot of MMA experience for his age and I think he can get the better of Almeida here to emerge with a decision victory.

Cezary Oleksiejczuk to win by decision

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Melquizael Costa vs. Morgan Charriere Prediction

Melquizael Costa is riding a four-fight winning streak as he now prepares to fight Morgan Charriere, who is coming off a KO victory.

The 29-year-old Costa is an aggressive pressure fighter who is a threat both on the feet and on the mat. Costa has respectable striking technique, particularly with his kicks, though he can be a bit reckless at times. Having said that, while he has been stopped a couple of times by strikes, he’s generally proven to be good at battling through adversity and finding a way to win. Meanwhile, he’s a decent offensive wrestler and is comfortable grappling, with eight of his victories having come by submission, but he isn’t quite as convincing defensively.

The 30-year-old Charriere is primarily an assured kickboxer, though he does also have a black belt in Judo and can grapple too. ‘The Last Pirate’ is athletic, has good speed and agile kicks to go alongside his notable punching power, with 13 of his 21 career victories coming via strikes. Charriere has a habit of being an overly patient sniper though, and waiting for the perfect time to land a potential fight-ending blow can lead to rounds slipping by him. And that’s become problematic when you consider that 10 of his 11 career losses have come by decision. Meanwhile, Charriere has capable takedowns when he opts to use them and does have three submission wins.
This should be a close competitive fight that could go either way, but while Charriere is the harder hitter, I’ll take Costa’s more consistent activity and pressure to help him edge out a close decision victory.

Melquizael Costa to win by decision

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Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Marcus Buchecha Prediction

Kennedy Nzechukwu comes in off a submission loss to fight Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida, who suffered a unanimous decision loss in his UFC debut back in July.

The 33-year-old Nzechukwu has now had a three-fight run at heavyweight in the past 14 months, starting promisingly enough with back-to-back TKO wins that proved he was able to carry his finishing power up a division. That’s perhaps not surprising when you consider that Nzechukwu was a huge light-heavyweight, standing 6ft 5″ with a vast 83″ reach, and his fairly unpolished striking isn’t as much of an issue now that he’s in a division that isn’t known for it’s refined technique. However, Nzechukwu’s progress was swiftly halted by Valter Walker last time out though, who took just 54 seconds to catch him in his trademark heel hook submission that’s now claimed four victims in a row. In general though he has respectable takedown defense and can utilize his own offensive wrestling at times.

The 35-year-old Buchecha is a BJJ ace who won numerous world titles in that discipline while competing for the best part of a decade before turning his attention to MMA in 2020. Buchecha initially put together a 5-1 run in the ONE FC promotion, including four submission finishes. His debut in the UFC against Martin Buday didn’t go so well though, with his struggles to get the fight to the mat enabling his opponent to get the better of him on the feet. A lack of solid wrestling is something that’s been problematic for other BJJ players in the past, so that’s certainly something he’ll need to improve on.

Despite losing by submission last time out I think Nzechukwu has a decent chance of keeping this fight upright to remove Buchecha’s best chance at victory, enabling him to use his striking advantage to deliver a 2nd round TKO finish.

Kennedy Nzechukwu to win by TKO in Rd2

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King Green vs. Lance Gibson Jr Prediction

A hastily arranged fight on just four days notice opens up the main card as King Green tries to bounce back from two losses when he goes up against the debuting Lance Gibson Jr, who is 9-1 in his career to date.

Green is an experienced veteran at 39-years-old with a crafty boxing game that sees him lure opponents in with his low guard and using head movement and shoulder rolls to defend strikes, while seeking out opportunities to land punches from unorthodox angles. At times it’s proven to be fairly effective for him, but it’s a style that relies heavily on timing, reflexes and toughness, which has become more tricky to pull off as age starts to catch up with him. As a result he’s now lost three of his last four fights, with two coming via KO, while even back in 2022 he was also finished twice by strikes, taking a toll on his durability.

Gibson Jr arrives in the UFC at 30-years-old, but interestingly he’s not the first in his family to compete in the Octagon as his dad, also named Lance Gibson, had a couple of fights back in the UFC back in 2000, going 1-1. Gibson Jr has spent much of his career so far competing for Bellator, going 5-1 run there. He was KO’d 62 seconds into his final fight in the promotion though, before going on to steady the ship with a couple of wins against low-level opposition on the regional scene. Now out-of-the-blue a year after his last fight he’s suddenly propelled into a short-notice UFC opportunity here. Gibson Jr is an athletically built fighter who is primarily a wrestler, but is well-rounded enough to mix it up on the feet too and work for the occasional submission.

Given his age and the fact he’s coming off a nasty KO loss it’s possible that Green is close to being done, but he can still be tricky to take down and is a handful offensively on the feet with his hard-to-read style. So I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he wins on the scorecards here against an opponent who hasn’t had time to prepare for Green and has yet to prove he’s good enough to stick around.

King Green to win by Decision

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UFC On ESPN: Royval vs. Kape Prelims

(Predicted winners in bold)

Amanda Lemos vs. Gillian Robertson
Joanderson Brito vs. Isaac Thomson
Neil Magny vs. Yaroslav Amosov
Sean Sharaf vs. Steven Asplund
Melissa Croden vs. Luana Santos
Allen Frye vs. Guilherme Pat
Jamey-Lyn Horth vs. Tereza Bledá

MMA Writer

Ross Cole

Ross Cole is one of the most prolific mixed martial arts writers in the world.

Having written more than 22,000 MMA news stories for MMA Insight, which he founded in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts.

Few people know the UFC and the sport of MMA like Ross, and he has built a solid reputation for being one of the best MMA tipsters in the world.

You can read more of Ross's work at MMAInsight.com.