UFC on ESPN 73: Brandon Royval vs. Manel Kape Prediction for Sunday, 12/14/25

The Main Event at UFC on ESPN 73 will see Brandon Royval take on Manel Kape. This will be a fight in the UFC Flyweight division. Royval enters this fight with an MMA record of 17-8 and 7-4 in the UFC. He averages 5.55 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 41%. Royval absorbs 4.23 strikes and has a striking defense of 43%. His grappling is decent at best, averaging 0.67 takedowns every 15 minutes and 1.1 submission attempts during the same period. Royval has a takedown accuracy of 75% and a takedown defense of 45%.

Kape enters this fight with an MMA record of 21-7 and 6-3 in the UFC. He is averaging 5.04 strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 55%. Kape is absorbing 4.05 strikes and has a striking defense of 57%. His grappling has not been very good, averaging just 0.42 takedowns every 15 minutes. He has a takedown accuracy of 30% and a takedown defense of 81%.

Kape is the heavy favorite in this fight; therefore, we will be targeting this fight to end inside the distance. Royval has seen 6 of his 11 UFC fights end inside the distance, while Kape has seen his last 2 UFC fights end inside the distance. With that, backing this fight to also end inside the distance will be our lean.