UFC Fight Night: Kape vs. Almabayev (also known as UFC Fight Night 253 and UFC Vegas 103 and UFC on ESPN+ 111) is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on March 1, 2025, at the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Valley, United States.
Background
A UFC Flyweight title eliminator between former LFA Flyweight Champion (also former title challenger) Brandon Royval and former RIZIN Bantamweight Champion Manel Kape was expected to headline the event. However, Royval withdrew due to an undisclosed injury.[4] He was replaced by Asu Almabayev. Albamayev was originally expected to face former flyweight title challenger Steve Erceg at the event, but the latter was moved to headline UFC on ESPN: Moreno vs. Erceg and replaced by Allan Nascimento. Nascimento was in turn pulled from the event after the latest changes.
A middleweight bout between Cody Brundage and The Ultimate Fighter: Team Grasso vs. Team Shevchenko middleweight winner Ryan Loder was scheduled for this event. However, Loder withdrew from the fight for unknown reasons and was replaced by Julian Marquez.