Manel Kape calls Jean Silva a “good promoter” but says he never attacked Muhammad Mokaev at UFC PI

Manel Kape never shies away from a challenge, but he finds it difficult to settle a score when the guy he supposedly beat up isn’t even there.

In early July, Jean Silva claimed he saw Kape attack upcoming UFC 304 opponent Muhammad Mokaev outside the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. The incident reportedly revolved around some harsh words the flyweights shared on social media, and Silva detailed what he described as his own first-hand account of watching the altercation unfold.

“He elbowed Mokaev in the head on the street, brother,” Silva claimed. “He caught Mokaev here at the entrance to the (UFC) PI. He headbutted him on the street and elbowed him. He ripped Mokaev’s head open a week before his fight. He’s a psychopath.”

The only problem with this story is that it never happened, Kape said.

“Nothing happened,” Kape told MMA Fighting. “It was just Jean. I have a Brazilian friend who made up this story just to hype up the fight. He knows I’m going to fight Mokaev and we’ve tweeted heavily in the past, that was public. We never hid that from anyone. That was public.”

While UFC PI has seen fighters clash in the past, the facility is usually packed with athletes at all hours of the day and night, so it seemed a little odd that no one else saw this alleged brawl between Kape and Mokaev.

As further proof that there was never a physical altercation, Kape was quick to point out that he trains in Las Vegas, but Mokaev rarely travels to the U.S. unless he arrives for fight week.

Due to the proximity, it would be quite difficult to facilitate a street fight between the flyweights.

“Mokaev is in Dagestan or England and I’m in Vegas,” Kape said. “We didn’t have a fight. People like to buy that fan story. That’s the story. By the way, Jean is a good promoter. Ultimately, he’s a good salesman. That makes the fight more exciting.”

“But no, nothing happened. Mokaev and I get along well, we are brothers, nothing like that happened.”

Of course, Kape doesn’t mind standing up for himself, even when he’s the smaller fighter in a situation. He got into a very heated exchange with former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya before UFC 293 and later said he rebuffed an attempt at an apology from “The Last Stylebender.”

However, Kape’s previous war of words with Mokaev was nothing more than a social media outcry when the 23-year-old undefeated junior boxer began challenging higher-ranked flyweights in order to get a fight. None of this meant that Kape was out for blood every time he faced Mokaev again.

“Mokaev is a young guy and he wants to move up quickly,” Kape said. “He wants to be a champion like Jon Jones early on, but he didn’t get the opportunity. So, of course, he developed this game from the beginning to catch the big sharks. He was a small fish in the water, so he wanted to get to the big sharks. So I understood his game.”

“But we never had anything personal. No physical interaction. Jean wanted to make something out of this fight. Mokaev is my Muslim brother at the end of the day. All good. But I’m still the best. I’m still the best in this game. I’m also still young. I’m 30 years old. People aren’t sleeping on it. I’m just getting a lot better.”

When it comes to the actual fight on July 27, Kape is excited to finally face Mokaev and get involved after so much debate on social media and interviews.

Kape appreciates the talent Mokaev has shown since entering the UFC, although he has observed some weaknesses in Mokaev’s opponents that have cost them the chance to end his winning streak.

“He definitely won,” Kape said. “When the Brazilian (Jafel Filho) broke his leg, it was definitely more his ego talking. He definitely didn’t want to give up, but it was his ego. Of course he has an impressive record and he doesn’t want to lose. That’s good too, but he’s been put in a position where he’s not going to be able to do that all the time. I’ve seen a lot of little mistakes made by the fighters who fight him and of course his own mistakes and he uses those mistakes as an opportunity.

“Just because I tell you and everyone, there is a (difference) at championship level. Of course, all these fighters are good, they’re in the UFC, congratulations, but this is different. These are mistakes that (fighters) with championship material don’t make. I don’t make mistakes. I don’t make mistakes like that. I saw very well what mistakes these guys make with Mokaev and they didn’t catch him and were close to catching him. Often they rush too much, and championship fighters don’t rush. We chase. We are calm.”

In particular, Kape looked at Mokaev’s recent win. Although Kape didn’t have much good to say about Tim Elliott, even he saw moments where the veteran flyweight could have pulled off the upset and defeated Mokaev.

“Tim Elliott is just a bum,” Kape said. “He’s just a bum. He’s an old fighter. He fights like an idiot. He won the fight against Mokaev, don’t get me wrong, Tim Elliott fought great. He’s just very sloppy and very stupid. That’s my opinion. That’s the story of the fight.”

The stakes in this duel could hardly be higher, as everything indicates that the winner will get the next chance at reigning UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja.

After speaking with the UFC and knowing that the opportunity to become champion has been on his mind for months, Kape fully expects this scenario to come to pass.

“Yeah, we talked a lot (with the UFC),” Kape revealed. “Even when I was supposed to fight Matheus Nicolau in April, if I had (beaten) Matheus Nicolau, I should have fought Pantoja. The fight that (Steve) Erceg got (at UFC 301) was my chance. This is the second time, the chance at the belt, so I just have to get in the cage and win.”