Kape’s knockout of Silva was a bounce-back after a decision loss to Muhammad Mokaev in July. Prior to that, Kape was on a five-fight run – though for one of those wins, he missed weight, and he also had to be pulled from a fight with Matheus Nicolau in January when he had a botched weight cut.

Manel Kape took three low blows from Bruno Silva at UFC on ESPN 63 but battled on and managed to get a stoppage win that caught Dana White's attention. Kape (20-7 MMA, 5-3 UFC) battered the streaking Silva (14-6-2 MMA,

Top flyweight contenders Manel Kape and Bruno Silva met in a huge matchup on the main card of the UFC's year-ending event in Tampa.

UFC on ESPN 63 was one of those events where, if he wanted to, Dana White could've announced a plethora of bonuses given the event was highlighted by several violent knockouts. Instead, the UFC boss kept it to the usual.