Manel Kape allegedly busted open Muhammad Mokaev with an elbow during a fight at the PI ahead of UFC 304
Manel Kape didn’t want to wait until Manchester to get his hands on Muhammad Mokaev.
Though ‘Starboy’ has only fought twice in the last two years — some of that being his fault, some of it not — Kape is still the No. 8 ranked contender in the flyweight division. If he can bag a big win over the undefeated ‘Punisher’ at UFC 304 on July 27, he’ll likely be next in line for a shot at reigning 125-pound titleholder Alexandre Pantoja.
As it turns out, ‘Starboy’ got things started early with Mokaev during a recent run-in at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. That comes according to Kape’s teammate Jean Silva who dished all the details during a recent interview.
“Manel Kape hit Mokaev here outside the gym a while ago,” Silva told Ag Fight. He elbowed Mokaev in the head on the street bro. Bro, he caught Mokaev at the entrance here to the [UFC] PI, he headbutted him and elbowed him, in the street. He opened Mokaev’s head a week before his fight. He’s [Kape] a psychopath.”
Manel Kape allegedly headbutted and elbowed Mokaev ahead of their UFC 304 encounter
Silva made his sophomore appearance for the promotion at UFC 303 on Saturday night, securing a knockout over Charles Jourdain in the second round. With the win, ‘Lord Assassin’ is now 2-0 inside the Octagon and is sitting on a 10-fight win streak dating back to 2018.
“The Russians here, bro, they didn’t even help, they just watched Mokaev take a d***, then Mokaev said, ‘I’m going to catch you’, he said he was going to slap Kape in the face,” Silva added. “Then [Kape] saw Mokaev and Mokaev wanted to apologize, and [Kape] said, ‘Apologies won’t be accepted, now you’ll have to do it’.
“Then Mokaev took a step back. When I went down and opened the second door, [Kape] arrived and headbutted Mokaev and elbowed him. Mokaev fell down to the ground then the Russians just watched” (h/t Bloody Elbow).
Though Mokaev didn’t appear to retaliate, he only has a few short weeks before he’ll have the chance to hand Kape his receipt when the two tussle in Rainy City.
