UFC Vegas 112 Power Rankings: Rating The Main Card Winners In Las Vegas
The final UFC event of 2025 saw a flyweight contender break from the pack, as Manel Kape delivered an undeniable performance to put himself in line for a shot at the undisputed 125-pound title.
UFC Vegas 112 Power Rankings
RDX Sports‘ Editor-in-Chief and veteran MMA writer Simon Head casts his eye over the main card winners, and presents his Power Rankings for UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Kape.
1. Manel Kape
The biggest performance of the night came in the biggest fight on the card, as Kape delivered a show-stealing display to demolish No. 2-ranked Brandon Royval and make a huge claim for the next shot at the flyweight title.
The manner of Kape’s win – via brutal first-round knockout – was a big statement in itself, but given the fact that the man currently holding the belt, Joshua Van, went five back-and-forth rounds with Royval last summer makes Kape’s win all the more attention-grabbing.
Van stepped in to replace an injured Kape against Royval during UFC International Fight Week, and his victory earned him his title shot against Alexandre Pantoja, which he duly won via injury TKO.
Now Kape is back, and he’s just demonstrated that he’s ready to blast his way to the belt. After that performance, it seems almost unthinkable that the UFC would pick anyone else for the next title shot.
2. Kevin Vallejos
Argentina’s Kevin Vallejos had some big question marks hanging over him heading into his bout with Giga Chikadze.
Was his matchup with the 15th-ranked featherweight contender a bit too much, too early? Did he have the temperament for a co-main event spot? And could he deal with Chikadze’s educated striking and overcome the height and reach disadvantages?
By the end of their fight, Vallejos had answered each of them in resounding fashion. He lost the first round against Chikadze, who started well and seemed to be settling into a rhythm. But in Round 2, Vallejos exploded into life, closed the distance and punished Chikadze at close range.
A massive spinning backfist dropped the Georgian, another shot found its mark as Chikadze was on the way down, and then some vicious follow-up elbows closed the show. It was a crushing finish that showed that Vallejos has the sort of power in MMA gloves that could trouble world-class contenders.
After that win, his next fight will be must-see TV.
3. Melquizael Costa
I had the featherweight bout between Melquizael Costa and Morgan Charriere circled on my fight card heading into the weekend, because I thought it would deliver a crowd-pleasing back-and-forth war. But while Costa certainly came to entertain, he had no intention of going back-and-forth.
Costa stood and traded with Charriere early, then unleashed the sort of left high kick the great Mirko Cro Cop would have been proud of. Despite the Frenchman’s attempt to block it, the kick still connected on Charriere’s temple, and knocked him out instantly.
It was an incredible finish, a stunning knockout, and gave Costa his fourth straight win in 2025. He might not be one of the UFC’s household names, but with wins over Andre Fili, Christian Rodriguez, Julian Erosa and now Charriere, he warrants inclusion on any discerning observer’s Fighter of the Year list.
4. Cezary Oleksiejczyuk
When you make your debut in the UFC, you always want to make a good first impression. Cezary Oleksiejczuk got off to a solid start.
Faced with the dangerous 7-1 knockout artist Cesar Almeida, Oleksiejczuk chose to lean on his wrestling, and he did so to excellent effect. The Pole landed six of seven takedown attempts and enjoyed a dominant 11 minutes, 15 seconds of control time over the course of their 15-minute bout.
It meant he claimed a straightforward decision win on the scorecards to get his UFC career off to a winning start. But a word of warning – don’t be fooled into thinking Oleksiejczuk is just a takedown artist. He’s dangerous on his feet, too. Expect to see that next time he steps into the Octagon.
5. King Green
There aren’t many more fun fighters to watch than King Green, and despite coming into the fight off the back of successive defeats to Paddy Pimblett and Mauricio Ruffy (via a KO of the year contending wheel kick), he showed his in-cage smarts were as sharp as ever as he edged a split decision verdict over the debuting Lance Gibson Jr.
Gibson had arrived in the UFC with a fair amount of promise following a strong run with Bellator that was only ended by Russian powerhouse Vladimir Tokov, but Green just about had his number on fight night, as he used his trademark striking and underrated takedowns to earn the nod from two of the three judges.
Green has found himself on the wrong end of some vicious knockouts in recent years, but he’s still as wily as they come, and his performance on Saturday night proved one thing – if you want to get the W against the King, you need to 100 percent earn it.
Simon Head is Editor-in-Chief with renowned combat sports equipment company RDX Sports. Check out their latest range of MMA fightwear today.
