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Manel Kape claims Israel Adesanya apologized after UFC 293 scuffle
UFC flyweight Manel Kape was none too happy when his scheduled UFC 293 opponent Kai Kara-France dropped out and left him facing Felipe dos Santos. This led to some unfiltered trash talk on his part at the pre-fight presser.
“Unfortunately, Kai Kara-France is a ____. A ______ _____. He’s in front of me and you are guilty because, Sunday, this kid’s going to pay, get murdered. Because of you, you effing _____.”
That caused then UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya, who was onstage at the time to insert himself into the discussion.
Kape continued to malign Kara-France, who was sitting with the audience at the press conference. Then he noticed Adesanya had stood up and was glaring at him.
“Sit the ____ down!” yelled Kape at The Last StyleBender. “I’ll ____ you up. Shut your mouth!”
“Look at this little midget trying to eff with me,” called Adesanya towards the end of the exchange. “I’ll bury you.”
According to a new interview with MMA Fighting, Kape claims that Adesanya came up to him backstage later to apologize.
“After all this talk [at the press conference], he came to me backstage ‘Hey, no disrespect, we are Africa, we’re brothers,’” Kape said. “I said, ‘We are not brothers.
“‘Look, my problem is with Kai Kara, not with you. Why did you stand up? He can handle his business.’”
Kape not intimidated by the much larger Adesanya
“Believe me, if he’s in the street with no cameras, I’ll eat you, too,” Kape said. “You are a man to back up your words. Because you’re just one [man], you’re tall, but I’ll eat you in the streets. Believe me. You don’t know what I’m capable of doing.
“He backed down again. Ask them what he said to me backstage. No man, no size, I don’t fear them, and I’m undefeated in the streets.
“I expected (the apology), because they’re just acting,” Kape said. “The difference is I’m not acting. I’m not acting. I’m for real.
“These people, they’re not built like me. Where I come from, what I handle. I’m different than these people. He knows. He don’t want the problem there.”
One has to wonder what the oddsmakers would make of such a matchup. My money’s on the little guy.