Manel Kape was just days removed from his knockout win over Kyoji Horiguchi at UFC Vegas 119 when he suddenly got drawn into a war of words on social media with UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland.
Of course, that’s nothing new for Strickland, it was a very fiery and personal series of messages, and while they don’t compete in the same division, the fighters both train at the same gym — Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas — under the tutelage of head coach Eric Nicksick. The conversation started with Strickland insulting Kape’s manager Ali Abdelaziz and then escalated into him accusing the flyweight contender of cheating.
Kape’s retorts blasted Strickland for talking a big game but then not actually confronting his manager when they were in the same room together, and he also accused the always outspoken middleweight of pretending to be a bully and saying he was only “acting like a tough guy.” The back-and-forth definitely escalated with each shared message, but Kape isn’t sweating his sudden beef with Strickland.
“There is nothing,” Kape told MMA Fighting. “Some people just talk a lot and we have to put people in their place. It doesn’t matter what weight class. Some people we have to show who’s the true people. Who is the bully and who is not the bully. People confuse sometimes weight with confidence. It’s nothing.”
Several years ago, Kape got into a verbal sparring match with then UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya after “Star Boy” was scheduled to face his teammate Kai Kara-France but he dropped off the card with an injury. The confrontation didn’t lead to any kind of physical altercation but Kape wasn’t about to back down from the challenge.
The same goes for Strickland and his insults aimed at Kape.
The veteran flyweight contender isn’t looking for trouble or trying to start a fight with Strickland but he’s also not going to refuse to respond just because the other guy talking is bigger than him.
“He wants attention. He loves attention,” Kape said. “This kind of stuff. We’re built different. We’re built different and some people deserves some answers that put them in their place. That’s what I want to say.
“But we’re all good. We’re all men. We all handle the things we should handle. Our way.”
As far as the future goes, Kape isn’t concerned about the online banter somehow turning into a bigger problem once they’re sharing the same mats again.
It’s unlikely Kape is going to run into Strickland any time soon as he take some much needed time off following his latest fight. Meanwhile, Strickland just left Las Vegas to travel to Florida where he’s working at American Top Team to help his old friend Johnny Eblen prepare for his own title fight in the PFL.
That said, Kape has trained alongside Strickland in the past and he expects it’s going to happen again but he doesn’t predict any long term problems between them.
“We can cross [paths],” Kape said. “We’re the same city, same gyms and everything. So we’ve crossed [paths].
“Believe me, I’m so confident in myself. We’ll see if it’s awkward. Some people [talk] online. Others are good in real life. We’re good. [This is] not the first time.”
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