Flyweight Manel Kape stopped Kyoji Horiguchi in the third round for his fourth straight victory on Saturday night in the UFC Fight Night main event in Las Vegas.

Kape’s TKO at 2:42 in the third of five scheduled rounds marked a transition period in a division whose champion, Joshua Van, successfully defended his title for the first time last month at UFC 328.

Kape (23-7 MMA, 8-3 UFC), a native of Angola fighting out of Portugal, exacted revenge against Japan’s Horiguchi (36-6, 1 NC MMA) from their 2017 bout in RIZIN, when Kape suffered one of only two submission losses in his career.

Kape paid respects to Horiguchi, recognizing that without him, his path to a potential title shot would look a little different, as he faced adversity in both fights.

Kape did make one thing clear, though.

“I knew he was going to touch me at some point,” Kape said after the fight about Horiguchi. “Because I felt his hand (speed) before. But, if I touch you one time — believe me — you’re gonna be dead.”

Kape, who has won seven of his last eight bouts, said he doesn’t know if he’ll get a title shot against Van immediately but was gracious toward UFC brass, including CEO Dana White.

The co-main event featured a pair of surging light heavyweights in New Zealand’s Navajo Stirling and Ion Cutelaba of Moldova.

After surviving five takedowns and a few potentially fight-ending submission sequences, including a standing guillotine, Stirling railed to secure a brutal TKO against Cutelaba at 3:23 of Round 2.

Since making his promotional debut in 2024, Stirling (10-0 MMA) is 5-0 in the UFC with back-to-back finishes and 10 straight victories.

Cutelaba (20-12-1), on the contrary, is 3-3 in his last six UFC fights, having been a fringe top-15 contender in the division and remaining part of the promotion since 2016.

The finishes kept coming in a trio of featherweight bouts, as Christian Rodriguez’s first-round head-kick marked the beginning of the end for Hyder Amil of the Philippines.

At 3:43 of the round, Rodriguez (13-4) successfully found an opening to secure a guillotine choke following the kick, after much of the fight was spent on the feet. The American has won four of his last seven, while Amil (11-3) fell to 3-3 in the promotion after three straight losses.

Featherweight Murtazali Magomedov added his name to the UFC history books with a modified twister submission 1:17 into the opening round against the usually durable Melsik Baghdasaryan.

Since the UFC’s inception in November 1993, only three other fighters have successfully executed the combined version of a neck crank and a spinal lock: Chan Sung Jung (2011), Bryce Mitchell (2019) and Da’Mon Blackshear (2023).

Magomedov (11-0 MMA) of Kyrgyzstan was making his UFC debut, while Armenia’s Baghdasaryan (8-4 MMA) has dropped two in a row and three of his last four.

The UFC Vegas 119 main card kicked off with Brazilian featherweight Vinicius Oliveira securing a second-round TKO (4:56) against Andre Fili of the United States to secure his fifth win in his last six outings.

Oliveira (24-4 MMA) now has two UFC wins by KO/TKO, marking the 19th finish of his career. Meanwhile, Fili (25-14, 1 NC MMA) fell to .500 in the UFC (13-13) since 2013.

The UFC caps off June with a trip to Baku, Azerbaijan, next Saturday for the second straight year.

–Field Level Media

SAN DIEGO – Austin Hill’s thrilling last-lap pass earned the veteran his first career road course NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory Saturday on a dramatic and ultimately emotional afternoon for his Richard Childress Racing team – capping a long and competitive day of racing in the inaugural United Rentals Driven to Serve 250 on Naval Base Coronado.

It marked the first win for the legendary RCR team since unexpectedly losing its NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch four weeks ago after the two-time series champion passed away unexpectedly due to complications from pneumonia. The emotion in Victory Lane Saturday was palpable – the celebration both a nod to Hill’s achievement and an ode to Busch and what he meant to the team and to the sport.

“It’s extremely special, just to finally check that box of getting that road course win, we’ve been so close so many times,” said Hill, whose No. 21 RCR Chevrolet had to be towed to Victory Lane after the rear wheels of the car were flattened after he performed a long burnout around Busch’s No. 8 logo painted on the track.

Hill, who now also drives the car Busch once drove in the NASCAR Cup Series, claimed Saturday’s win may have included a little divine intervention from his former teammate.

“I’m not gonna lie, I started talking to this guy a little bit down the straightaways,” Hill said, pointing to his hat, which carries the number eight Busch carried for the team. “I was like ‘Man, Kyle, if you’re here, give me something, let me find another gear.’

“And for whatever reason, the car started coming to life and the two leaders got together and when there was blood in the water behind the 54 (runner-up Taylor Gray), I knew it was going to be tough to get around him, that it was going to be a battle. And when I got clear of him, I was very surprised to see how much of a gap I got on him.

“I can’t thank these guys enough, everyone on this 21-team, at RCR. We’ve been through a lot these last several weeks. … Man, this is awesome, so cool.”

His Hall of Famer owner Childress was openly emotional as he greeted Hill in Victory Lane.

“It’s great to win here, and we all have Kyle in our hearts,” said Childress, his voice cracking in the poignant scene.

“You may not show it on the outside, but you do here,” he added, pointing to his heart.

Hill consistently showed Saturday he had a strong car – winning the opening stage — throughout an eventful day that included two red flags totaling more than an hour of race stoppage, an enthusiastic fan who jumped a fence and greeted driver Sheldon Creed during that red flag break, and lots of daring passes on the 3.4-mile 16-turn circuit around the famous Naval Base.

With five laps remaining in the 60-lap event, JR Motorsports’ Carson Kvapil led Gray and looked to claim his first career win and extend an already record 11-race road course winning streak for the JRM team.

However, with three laps to go, Gray pulled his No. 54 Toyota alongside Kvapil’s No. 1 Chevy and the contact bounced Kvapil’s car off a tire barrier and out of the lead.

Two laps later, Hill was able to get around Gray as they took the white flag signaling the last lap of the race. The 32-year-old Georgia-native went on to win by a convincing 1.127 seconds over Gray, who led the most laps (16) on the day and won Stage 2.

Gray blamed “wheel hop” for his contact with Kvapil.

“Pretty disappointed in myself, really proud of everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Racing. … Obviously would love to be in victory lane right now, that’s where my guys deserve to be,” Gray said.

“Got really bad wheel hop, that’s what it boils down to,” he added. “He raced me tight like he should and I wheel-hopped underneath him.”

Kvapil and Gray spoke briefly after the race.

“It’s really hard to make peace with that, obviously I feel like that robbed me and everyone at this Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet,” Kvapil said. “They brought us a really fast car and gave us position to win a race and obviously we didn’t. That one really hurts.”

Haas Factory Team’s Creed finished third, followed by Kvapil and JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith – who turned in an impressive rally forward after an eventful, full-contact day of his own.

Hill’s RCR teammate Jesse Love also rallied on the day, finishing sixth after starting from the last row of the 37-car field. Viking Motorsports’ Parker Retzlaff, who led five laps, finished seventh with Austin Green, Harrison Burton and Corey Day rounded out the top-10.

Two red flag periods – combining for more than an hour in time – slowed the action. The first coming out on the second lap and the later one coming out to properly repair the wall and fencing following a 23-car incident that eliminated many of the day’s strong cars.

While racing up front, Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer nicked the inside wall at Turn 1 and careened hard into the other wall collecting Anthony Alfredo’s No. 96 Chevrolet and starting a chain reaction among the mid-pack behind. The impact was enough to bring out a 43-minute red flag.

Almost immediately after the race start, there was an hour-long delay to repair a sewer vent cover in Turn 5 that came off in traffic and impaled into Day’s No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

The series championship leader, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier had an eventful day, and retired 17 laps early after being collected in multiple incidents on the day. Despite the DNF, the series-best five-race winner continues to hold an amazing 224-point advantage over reigning series champion Love atop the championship standings.

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action in next Saturday’s Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at the renowned Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway a couple hours North on the California coast. Connor Zilisch is the defending race winner.

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race – United Rentals Driven to Serve 250

San Diego Street Course

San Diego, California

Saturday, June 20, 2026

1. (4) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 60.

2. (11) Taylor Gray, Toyota, 60.

3. (7) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 60.

4. (5) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 60.

5. (10) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 60.

6. (37) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 60.

7. (2) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 60.

8. (8) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 60.

9. (15) Harrison Burton, Toyota, 60.

10. (31) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 60.

11. (24) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 60.

12. (33) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 60.

13. (20) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 60.

14. (30) Andrew Patterson, Chevrolet, 60.

15. (27) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 60.

16. (17) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 60.

17. (22) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 60.

18. (13) Preston Pardus, Chevrolet, 60.

19. (26) Brad Perez, Toyota, 60.

20. (28) Patrick Staropoli, Chevrolet, 60.

21. (34) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 60.

22. (21) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 60.

23. (36) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 60.

24. (18) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 60.

25. (35) Jesse Iwuji, Chevrolet, 60.

26. (25) Leland Honeyman Jr(i), Chevrolet, 59.

27. (12) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, Electrical, 52.

28. (23) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 52.

29. (14) Lavar Scott, Chevrolet, 48.

30. (19) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 47.

31. (1) Brent Crews, Toyota, Engine, 44.

32. (16) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, Engine, 43.

33. (32) Baltazar Leguizamon, Chevrolet, Engine, 41.

34. (6) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, Accident, 34.

35. (3) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, Accident, 34.

36. (9) William Sawalich, Toyota, Accident, 34.

37. (29) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, Engine, 28.

–Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

Jake McCarthy hit an inside-the-park home run and also doubled, Tomoyuki Sugano tossed six strong innings to outduel Pittsburgh ace Paul Skenes and the Colorado Rockies survived a chaotic ninth inning to beat the Pirates 2-1 in Denver on Saturday night.

Sugano (8-4) scattered four hits over six innings and Jaden Hill got the final two outs for his second save.

Spencer Horwitz homered and singled for Pittsburgh, which started the game with back-to-back hits and had just four more the rest of the way for a grand total of six.

Skenes (6-7) was nearly untouchable against the Rockies in Pittsburgh on May 12, taking a no-hitter into the seventh and tossing eight scoreless innings. He wasn’t as dominant Saturday night but allowed just two runs on four hits and fanned eight over six innings.

He was nearly saved from a loss when his team loaded the bases with one out in the ninth. Tyler Callihan struck out and Jake Mangum hit a grounder to third baseman Kyle Karros, who couldn’t make a throw to any base.

However, the umpires ruled baserunner Billy Cook interfered with Karros and called him out to end the game.

Horwitz led off the game with a blast into the second deck in right field, his fifth career leadoff home run, but he was upstaged by McCarthy when he led off the bottom of the first.

McCarthy drove a tailing liner to center that got by the diving Mangum. It rolled to the wall where Callihan had trouble picking it up, giving McCarthy time to circle the bases and tie the game.

McCarthy doubled in the third and scored what would be the winning run on TJ Rumfield’s two-out single.

Sugano settled down after Horwitz’s home run and Brandon Lowe’s single that followed to hold down the Pirates. Sugano allowed a one-out double to Mangum in the second and Horwitz’s single in the third but Pittsburgh couldn’t cash in, finishing 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

–Field Level Media