Born in Angola in November 1993, Kape grew up in Portugal and played football as a kid — which is why he pulled out Cristiano Ronaldo’s “Siu” after beating Royval. “I was born in Angola, I represent my country very, very well, always in my blood,” he told TNT Sports, before declaring himself Portugal’s second-biggest sports star after Ronaldo. He built his striking-heavy reputation on the regional and Asian circuit before reaching the UFC, and his promotional debut came in March 2021 against Alexandre Pantoja. Per a UFC.com feature by Spencer Kyte, Kape told the outlet five years earlier that he expected to hold the belt by year’s end. Reality did not cooperate.
Stylistically, he’s a kickboxer first. He lands 5.04 significant strikes per minute at 57 percent accuracy — numbers that put him among the division’s more accurate volume strikers — and his power carried over from his ONE Championship bantamweight title run. Footwork, counter timing, and a heavy right hand drive most of the finishes. The knock on him has always been takedown defence and how he handles scrambles against grappling-led opponents, the profile that gave him trouble early in his UFC run. Three straight knockouts suggest the defensive layer around the striking has tightened.
The career arc reads as two halves. Kape opened his UFC run with back-to-back decision losses to Pantoja and Matheus Nicolau, then reset with a first-round knockout of Ode Osbourne at UFC 265 and another over Zhalgas Zhumagulov in late 2021. Decision wins over David Dvorak and short-notice replacement Felipe dos Santos at UFC 293 kept him moving, before a 2024 loss to Muhammad Mokaev. He answered by stopping Bruno Silva, then Asu Almabayev in March 2025, then Royval inside a round on December 13, 2025. UFC.com counts multiple bouts that fell out due to opponent withdrawals across his five-year stint.
Kape now sits as the most credible challenger at flyweight, with Pantoja sidelined by injury after UFC 323 and Van holding the belt. “I see Joshua Van as a punching bag,” Kape told MMA Fighting, promising to end the new champion’s reign before it begins. Whether the UFC books that fight next or routes through another contender first, the Starboy has finally arrived at the doorstep he described half a decade ago.