Regardless of the meat between them, Manel Kape couldn’t assist however really feel unhealthy for Israel Adesanya after the previous two-time titleholder suffered his third straight loss contained in the Octagon.
After arising brief towards Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis, ‘The Final Stylebender’ hoped for a latest towards rising contender Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Saudi Arabia. Following a stable opening spherical, Adesanya was struck by an overhand proper lower than a minute into the second stanza which in the end resulted in him TKO’d for simply the second time contained in the Octagon.
Reacting to Adesanya’s loss, Kape admitted throughout a latest interview with former flyweight nice Demetrious Johnson that he felt sorry for the middleweight icon.
“I’m unhappy about Izzy,” Kape mentioned. “His final combat. I’m actually unhappy. We had the meat however he’s a legend, . He was beating this man, . He was profitable the combat. I used to be unhappy, . I used to be unhappy since you see a legend like him falling down that means is fairly unhappy, . I by no means want something for any man. Stepping within the cage and have the outcomes he had, it’s fairly unhappy.”
Manel Kape’s feud with Adesanya goes again to a 2023 encounter with Kai Kara-France
Kape’s phrases are particularly shocking since there’s been some animosity between him and Adesanya relationship again to an incident in September 2023 when the ‘Stylebender’ stepped in to argue with Kape on behalf of his Metropolis Kickboxing teammate Kai Kara-France.
The argument got here to be when Kara-France pulled out of a combat with Kape at UFC 293. Defending his good friend, Adesanya referred to as Kape a “midget” and threatened to bury him.
Shortly after Kape claimed that Adesanya had tried to apologize for the incident, however ‘Starboy’ wasn’t having it.
“In spite of everything this speak [at the press conference], he got here to me backstage ‘Hey, no disrespect, we’re Africa, we’re brothers,’” Kape informed MMA Preventing after the incident. “I mentioned, ‘We aren’t brothers. Look, my downside is with Kai Kara, not with you. Why did you arise? He can deal with his enterprise.’”
They might by no means be pals, however at the least there appears to be some mutual respect between the 2 UFC stars.
Kape will probably be again in motion this Saturday for a Struggle Night time card inside The APEX. ‘Starboy’ will headline the night’s festivities with a high-stakes flyweight conflict towards 21-win veteran Asu Almabayev.
