Sooo … About Last Night

Last night (Sat., Dec. 13, 2025), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returned home to UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, for UFC Vegas 112. The final event of 2025 was headlined by a pivotal Flyweight clash between former title challenger Brandon Royval and former RIZIN kingpin Manel Kape, two men looking to take advantage of the new Flyweight landscape. The rest of the card featured a well-known mix of action fighters like Giga Chikadze and King Green, as well as the UFC debut of former Bellator champion Yaroslav Amosov. Admittedly, there were also a handful of terrible unranked Heavyweight fights, but I’ve no intention of discussing that any further!

Let’s take a look back over the best performances and techniques of the evening:

Kape Finally Lives Up To The Hype

For a long time now, Manel Kape has very clearly been one of the very best Flyweights alive. The problem is that he doesn’t always perform to his potential. The fast-twitch athlete with savvy boxing and serious knockout power has the classic problem that plagues many counter punchers: sometimes he just won’t pull the trigger. The Muhammad Mokaev grudge match was a particularly egregious example, as well as his most recent loss.

It could be argued that Kape has solved the issue on his current three-fight win streak, a trio of knockouts over an increasingly good level of competition. He was not particularly high-volume against Royval, no, but Kape did score this KO on his own initiative. He blitzed Royval with a shifting combination and cracked him with a right hook along the fence — no “perfect” counter moment needed. It’s the biggest and best win of his career, and it just might be enough to secure him a title shot versus Joshua Van.

If that happens, expect guaranteed fireworks between two of Flyweight’s best boxers.

The Continued Rise Of Kevin Vallejos

Kevin Vallejos is a special talent.

The 24-year-old from Argentina faced a difficult stylistic matchup in kickboxing ace Giga Chikadze. Though Vallejos had youth on his side, he was facing a significant disadvantage in height and reach, an edge compounded by Chikadze’s kicking game. For most of the first round, Vallejos struggled to get his hands going, absorbing quite a few hard liver kicks in the process.

A lot of boxers would’ve been stymied by Chikadze’s early success in establishing his range, but Vallejos is not the usual boxer. In round two, he timed a nice right hand that backed Chikadze into the fence. Exploding forward with another right, Vallejos suddenly spun into a backfist and caught Chikadze circling right into the blow. Before Chikadze could even hit the ground, Vallejos landed another right hand then collapsed onto him with a vicious series of elbows.

He’ll enter 2026 as a ranked Featherweight, and he’s closer to being a title threat after just three UFC wins than anyone could have expected.

Unranked Fighter Of The Year

Melquizael Costa is on fire.

He entered 2025 with a 2-2 UFC record, a complete unknown in the big picture of Featherweight talent. He started the year off with a shockingly quick guillotine of Andre Fili, which definitely turned some heads. One month later, he was battling with talented prospect Christian Rodriguez, picking up another quality win. Two months later, Costa went to war with Julian Erosa, picking up a “Fight of the Night” bonus in his third UFC win of the year.

After three wins in four months, Costa took some time off before returning last night versus former Cage Warriors champion Morgan Charriere, a gifted finisher with plenty of experience. The two strikers opened the fight trading kicks, showing off crafty setups and always answering one another … that is until a Costa high kick blasted straight through the block of Charriere and knocked him cold just a couple minutes into the fight.

Costa is a brilliant kicker, but this single strike is his best showcase yet of those skills. Hopefully, he earns a ranked opponent in his first fight of 2026, because his outstanding 2025 deserves to be recognized.

How about David Onama?

A Welcome Welterweight Addition

Former Bellator champion Yaroslav Amosov belongs in the Octagon.

At this stage of the game, everybody knows that Magny is past his best yet remains a tricky challenge. Amosov answered all the Magny questions wonderfully, kicking him in the calf several times and ducking under his swings with well-timed takedown entries. It took a couple tries to fully drag down the lanky veteran, but once on top, Amosov demonstrated his mastery with a really slick anaconda choke.

The submission began from half-guard. Amosov threatened a guillotine choke and then sunk the arm all the way through as Magny moved to fight hands. As he attacked the arm-in strangle, Amosov critically captured Magny’s arm with his thighs. This is a relatively new strategy in finishing the anaconda choke, but it’s very effective in eliminating the submitted fighter’s ability to scramble and frame on the hips.

Magny had nowhere to go, and Amosov improves to 29-1 in the very first round. A ranked foe is undoubtedly next for the talented Ukrainian, who should be put on the fast track given his experience.

Additional Thoughts