Manel Kape and Kyoji Horiguchi are amongst the best flyweights in the world, and on Saturday night, they renew acquaintances in a battle to see who moves one step closer to potentially challenging for UFC gold.

Kape enters on a three-fight winning streak and having won seven of his last eight since starting his UFC tenure with consecutive decision losses. Five of those victories have come inside the distance, and the 32-year-old from Portugal seems to be rounding into the form that made him such a highly regarded addition to the roster at the start of 2021.

Consecutive victories since returning to the UFC fold have quickly catapulted Horiguchi into contention in the 125-pound weight class. The Japanese veteran, who challenged for gold during his first tour of duty in the Octagon, followed up his third-round submission win over Tagir Ulanbekov with a unanimous decision nod against Amir Albazi in February, pushing his overall unbeaten streak to eight in the process.

In addition to being a meeting between two of the top flyweights in the world, Saturday’s main event is also a rematch as Horiguchi faced and submitted Kape in the semifinals of the Rizin World Grand Prix 2017. Kape has been the more dynamic of the two under the UFC banner, but Horiguchi has the overall experience edge and greater savviness, plus you never know how that previous result factors into this here. It’s assumed that Joshua Van will rematch Alexandre Pantoja next, so the winner of this one could be in line for a date with the winner of that presumed pairing, or simply further establish themselves as a threat before continuing to fight on and defend their place in the pecking order.