Manel Kape has revealed that Israel Adesanya apologised for their heated exchange at the UFC 293 press conference.
However, Kape refused the apology and instead challenged Adesanya to a fight, boasting that he will beat the Nigeria-New Zealander.
The exchange took place when Adesanya as the headliner of the UFC 293 card faced Sean Strickland in September, while Manel Kape took on Felipe dos Santos on the same night. Originally scheduled to face Adesanya’s teammate, Kai Kara-France, Kape expressed his frustration, accusing Kara-France of avoiding the fight.
Adesanya, supporting his teammate, engaged in a heated verbal exchange with Kape.
In a recent interview, Kape disclosed the backstage conversation between him and Adesanya.
According to Kape, Adesanya offered an apology, addressing Kape as “brother.” However, Kape declined the apology and instead challenged Adesanya to a fight, dismissing the notion of kinship merely because they hailed from Africa.
“We come to the backstage and he come to me and say ‘hey, no disrespect bother’. I say for him ‘hey, we not brothers, first of time, we not brothers. First of all, we not brothers, just because we from Africa, we not brothers,” he said.
“Second, Kai Kara can defend himself and third, you think that I’m acting, bro if you wanna fight, let’s fight here without camera. I swear to god I smoke you here’.
” In street, I can beat you brother, I really 100% or 1000% in street, I smoke him easily because you can see Izzy is kind of a fake person. A really fake person and he act all the time, his attitude for what. Why you stand up, you just make you look bad.”
Despite training alongside Kai Kara-France at City Kickboxing, Kape had no prior issues with Adesanya. He expressed his belief that Adesanya should have allowed Kara-France to handle his own affairs without intervening, leading to the escalated confrontation.
Kape emerged victorious in his fight against dos Santos via unanimous decision, while Adesanya faced a devastating loss to Strickland, sending shockwaves through the MMA community.
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