Manel Kape dismisses eye poke ‘excuse’ in recent win over Asu Almabayev: “I was beating him”

UFC flyweight contender Manel Kape doesn’t want to hear any excuses about his fight with Asu Almabayev.

‘Starboy’ and ‘Zulfikar’ are fresh off their meeting at UFC Vegas 103 earlier this month in Las Vegas. Both men entered the flyweight headliner riding lengthy winning streaks, and hoping to earn a crack at reigning champion Alexandre Pantoja. In the end, the bout ended up being quite lopsided. Manel Kape broke down the younger Asu Almabayev, en route to a third-round stoppage victory.

However, the win didn’t come without some controversy. In rounds one and three, Manel Kape poked Asu Almabayev in the eyes. Neither infraction was noticed by the referee, and the bout continued as a result. While Almabayev didn’t complain about the fouls post-fight, many online felt that the eyepokes led to the knockout in round three. Speaking in a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Kape discussed the controversy.

There, the UFC flyweight contender dismissed talk of the eyepokes, calling them an “excuse”. According to Manel Kape, any damage around the eyes of Asu Almabayev was caused by punches he landed, not any fouls. While ‘Starboy’ didn’t deny accidentally poking his opponent, he seems to believe the infractions didn’t have much of a result.

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(via Zuffa LLC)

Manel Kape slams ‘excuse’ about eye poke leading to finish of Asu Almabayev at UFC Vegas 103

“Against Asu, his eye became like that, it was the first punch,” Manel Kape stated to MMA Fighting discussing his recent UFC Vegas 103 win over Asu Almabayev. “It was the first punch that hit him. If you guys watch the fight very carefully and watch the first round, when I got the punch, immediately his eye was already destroyed.” (h/t MMA News)

Later in the interview, Manel Kape took aim at his critics. The flyweight feels that the only reason anyone is discussing the foul, is because they’re trying to find ways to discredit his knockout win.

He continued, “It was not an eye poke that made the fight, that finished the fight. I was beating him. People go and find excuses because it was me. People want to find an excuse. There’s a type of fighters that get a lot of hate. This is a special fighters, the champions, they always talk about them and they want to criticize them. I know I’m one of the people that get a lot of hate but when you’re winning, when you become a champion, they want to be on your side.”

What do you make of these comments from the UFC flyweight? Who do you want to see Manel Kape fight next?