“Just because we’re from Africa…” Manel Kape’s disrespectful conversation with Israel Adesanya revealed; flyweight confident on ‘smoking’ former middleweight champ

Manel Kape explained the backstage interaction between him and Israel Adesanya after their verbal altercation at the UFC 293 press conference.


“Just because we’re from Africa…” Manel Kape’s disrespectful conversation with Israel Adesanya revealed; flyweight confident on ‘smoking’ former middleweight champ

Manel Kape revealed backstage interaction with Israel Adesanya at the UFC 293 pressers (via Instagram/Youtube)

Israel Adesanya headlined the UFC 293 fight card against Sean Strickland. On the same card, Manel Kape took on Felipe dos Santos, who stepped up on short notice. Originally, Kape was set to face Adesanya’s teammate, Kai Kara-France. As such, Kape bashed the Kiwi and threw a bottle for pulling out of the fight. So, Adesanya took the microphone in support of his teammate. However, it turned into a heated verbal exchange. Now, Kape revealed backstage conversations between them.

In a recent interview with Michael Bisping, Manel Kape revealed that Adesanya apologized for the altercation at the UFC 293 press conference. However, he denied the apology and challenged him for a fight. Here is what Kape said:

He (Israel Adesanya) told me, 'With all due respect, brother.' I said 'Hey, we are not brothers. Just because we're from Africa, we are not brothers.'...If you wanna fight, let's fight here, without cameras, without nothing. I swear to god I'd smoke him. I'd smoke him easily...You can see, Izzy, he's a type of fake person, a really fake person.
Manel Kape via Youtube
YouTube video

Israel Adesanya and Kai Kara-France train out of City Kickboxing. However, Manel Kape had no beef with Adesanya before this incident. Kape believed that ‘The Stylebender’ should’ve let Kara-France handle his business and remained silent. However, when Adesanya stood for his rival, he couldn’t avoid the altercation. Thankfully, it didn’t turn into a physical riot.

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Manel Kape won his fight against Filipe dos Santos via unanimous decision. On the other hand, Israel Adesanya lost his fight to Sean Strickland devastatingly. This upset shook the world of MMA. As such, UFC 293 remained in the history books for Strickland’s upset win and the Adesanya-Kape confrontation.

Manel Kape unloads verbal slur on Kai Kara-France and Israel Adesanya at UFC 293

Manel Kape and Kai Kara-France were supposed to fight in UFC 293. However, Kara-France suffered a concussion weeks before the fight and pulled out. This infuriated Kape, who was eager to fight high on the rankings. As such, he slammed the Kiwi for pulling out throughout the fight week. They shared a heated exchange at the press conference. Kara-France’s teammate Israel Adesanya also joined the argument at the pressers.

Manel Kape teased Kai Kara-France and teammates with a verbal slur
Manel Kape teased Kai Kara-France and teammates with a verbal slur (via YouTube/The Independent)

Manel Kape didn’t hold back in the verbal war and went at Kai Kara-France and Israel Adesanya. Later, in the UFC 293 post-fight interview, he again slammed Kara-France and his teammates in an NSFW way. He challenged the Kiwi to fight him; if not, he said he would come to his gym and spar with him. Further, he called all his teammates a ‘fa***t.’

Manel Kape won his fight in UFC 293 against Felipe dos Santos. Many expected him to be matched against Kai Kara-France again. With their heated beef and altercations, this was the fight to make. However, Kape agreed to fight #6 ranked Matheus Nicolau. This fight goes down at the beginning of the next year.

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