Manel Kape Says He Turned Down Israel Adesanya’s Apology After UFC 293 Presser

Manel Kape isn’t ready to let go of his beef with former UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya.  

Kape was scheduled to fight Felipe dos Santos last month at UFC 293, which was headlined by Adesanya’s title defense against Sean Strickland. During the pre-fight presser, “Starboy” went off on his original opponent Kai Kara-France, who had pulled out of the matchup and was seated in the audience.  

Adesanya came to his City Kickboxing teammate’s defense, calling Kape a “midget” and promising to bury him.  

In a recent interview with MMAFighting.com, Kape claimed that “The Last Stylebender” subsequently approached him with a truce offering backstage, which he turned down. 

 
“After all this talk [at the press conference], he came to me backstage ‘Hey, no disrespect, we are Africa, we’re brothers,’” Kape recalled. “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.’” 

Regardless of Adesanya’s size advantage, Kape seemingly has no doubts about outcome of a street fight with “no cameras.”

“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.”