Outside Source
Manel Kape has some momentum entering UFC on ESPN 73. | Getty/UFC
The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s final event of 2025 — and the ESPN era — has been finalized.
The promotion on Wednesday officially confirmed the card for UFC on ESPN 73, which takes place on Dec. 13 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The event is headlined by a flyweight tilt pitting Brandon Royval against Manel Kape, while Giga Chikadze will square off against Kevin Vallejos in the evening’s co-main event. The main card airs on ESPN2 and ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims will be broadcast on ESPN+ beginning at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. Prelims will be joined in progress on ESPN2 at 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT.
Royval and Kape were initially slated to meet at UFC Vegas 103 on March 1 before Royval withdrew from the event after suffering multiple concussions in training. The bout was rescheduled for UFC 317 before Kape pulled out due to a fractured foot.
Royval would remain on the UFC 317 bill against Joshua Van, who defeated “Raw Dawg” via unanimous decision to earn the next flyweight title shot. That snapped a two-fight winning streak for Royval, who was coming off back-to-back triumphs over Tatsuro Taira and Brandon Moreno. The 33-year-old Factory X product challenged for 125-pound gold at UFC 296, where he dropped a five-round verdict to Alexandre Pantoja.
Kape, meanwhile, has been victorious in six of his last seven Octagon appearances. After Royval withdrew from UFC Vegas 103, “Starboy” remained on the card to defeat Asu Almabayev via third-round TKO.
UFC on ESPN 73 Card
Brandon Royval vs. Manel Kape
Giga Chikadze vs. Kevin Vallejos
Neil Magny vs. Yaroslav Amosov
Amanda Lemos vs. Gillian Robertson
Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Marcus Almeida
Joanderson Brito vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
Melquizael Costa vs. Morgan Charriere
Cesar Almeida vs. Cezary Oleksiejczuk
Sean Sharaf vs. Steven Asplund
Luana Santos vs. Melissa Croden
Allen Frye vs. Guilherme Pat
Jamey-Lyn Horth vs. Tereza Bleda
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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