UFC flyweights Manel Kape and Muhammad Mokaev are scheduled to share the Octagon at UFC 304 on July 27, in Manchester, but that won’t be the first time they have gotten their hands on each other.
Manel Kape has struggled to stay active during his UFC tenure, something that his flyweight counterpart, Muhammad Mokaev hasn’t had a problem with since his debut back in 2022.
‘Starboy’s’ last fight came against Felipe dos Santos at UFC 293 last September, and the flyweight striker only narrowly got through the Brazilian.
The two are scheduled to fight each other at UFC 304 in Manchester on July 27, with it likely being a number one contender fight, with the winner earning a title shot.
Manel Kape headbutted and elbowed Muhammad Mokaev at the UFC PI
‘The Punisher’ last fought in March at the UFC Apex, beating former title challenger, Alex Perez, over a unanimous decision. However, in the lead-up to that fight, the 23-year-old allegedly had a run-in with ‘Starboy’ at the Performance Institute.
Jean Silva, a teammate of the 30-year-old Portuguese fighter, has claimed that a week before Mokaev’s fight with Perez, Kape headbutted and elbowed him at the entrance of the UFC Performance Institute.
“Manel Kape hit (Muhammad) 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,” the featherweight continued.
Silva fought this past weekend at UFC 303, knocking out Charles Jourdain in the second round. The Brazilian claimed that Mokaev’s teammates didn’t do anything to stop the attack as they just watched on.
“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. 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,” Silva added.
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The UFC 304 bout order confirmed with Mokaev and Kape on the main card
Although Mokaev seemingly didn’t retaliate, he doesn’t have long to wait until he can get his hands on Kape inside the Octagon.
The bout order for the blockbuster event in Manchester has been confirmed, as featherweights, Arnold Allen and Giga Chikadze will open up the main card.
Following that is the highly anticipated flyweight number-one contender fight between Kape and Mokaev, with current champion, Alexandre Pantoja likely watching on to see who his next challenger may be.
Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett then makes his UK return by taking on fan favorite, Bobby Green, in a big fight at lightweight, that could see Pimblett crack the top 15 of the division.
Tom Aspinall then becomes one of the only fighters ever to defend his interim title as he takes on Curtis Blaydes in a highly anticipated rematch, before Leon Edwards defends his welterweight strap against Belal Muhammad in the main event.
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