<
>

UFC Fight Night 253: How to watch Kape vs. Almabayev

Kape (20-7-0) returns to the octagon for the first time since stopping Bruno Silva in the third round in December. Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

UFC returns to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday for UFC Fight Night: Kape vs. Almabayev. Top 10 flyweights Manel Kape and Asu Almabayev headline the action in a matchup against two contenders looking to land a shot at the title.

Coverage begins at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN+ and Disney+. The main card is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

Kape (20-7-0) returns to the Octagon for the first time since stopping Bruno Silva in the third round in December. Kape showed then in Tampa that he belongs in the championship conversation. Standing in his way in Vegas is a fighter in Almabayev (21-2-0) who has opened his stint in the UFC with four straight wins. The 31-year-old earned the biggest victory of his career against Matheus Nicolau in his last bout.

This weekend's co-main event is a middleweight clash between Cody Brundage and Julian Marquez. Brundage (10-6-0) looks to get back in the win column after failing to notch a victory in 2024. Marquez (9-5-0) also enters the bout starving for a win, having dropped each of his last three bouts.

What are the top storylines at UFC Fight Night? How are experts breaking them down? What do the fighters have to say? Here is the fight card, how to watch it and a collection of all of the UFC Fight Night essentials:

UFC Fight Night fight card

ESPN+, Saturday, 7 p.m. ET

Flyweight: Manel Kape vs. Asu Almabayev

Middleweight: Cody Brundage vs. Julian Marquez

Lightweight: Nasrat Haqparast vs. Esteban Ribovics

Featherweight: Hyder Amil vs. William Gomis

Welterweight: Danny Barlow vs. Sam Patterson

ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET

Heavyweight: Austen Lane vs. Mario Pinto

Featherweight: Ricardo Ramos vs. Chepe Mariscal

Featherweight: Danny Silva vs. Lucas Almeida

Women's flyweight: Andrea Lee vs. JJ Aldrich

Flyweight: Charles Johnson vs. Ramazan Temirov

How to watch the fights

Watch the fights on ESPN+: Get ESPN+ here.

Fans can catch all the action in the UFC streaming hub.

There's also FightCenter, which offers live updates for every UFC card.