Manel Kape doesn’t play games outside the octagon.

When “Starboy” makes it to fight night, he’s not to be trifled with there either. Unfortunately, the problem has just been keeping that a consistent theme. Whether his or his opponent’s fault, the flyweight contender Kape has amassed nine UFC fight cancelations since arriving off the heels of his RIZIN bantamweight title run in 2021.

Kape has finally gotten into a groove results-wise after a rocky two-fight skid to start his UFC career, winning four in a row (19-6 overall record). He finds himself now scheduled for a likely No. 1 contender tilt against his fellow top-ranked flyweight Muhammad Mokaev at UFC 304 on July 27. However, according to UFC featherweight prospect Jean Silva, Kape and Mokaev recently came to blows before their official encounter.

“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. He caught Mokaev at the entrance here to the [UFC] P.I. (Performance Institute). He headbutted him and elbowed him in the street. He opened Mokaev’s head a week before his fight. He’s a psychopath, and I was going to spar with him that day. When I arrived, he just came butting his head here.

“He was right at the entrance to the P.I. The Russians here, bro, they didn’t even help, they just. They just watched Mokaev take a d*ck.”

Before his most recent performance, a thrilling unanimous decision against Felipe Silva at UFC 293 in September, Kape fearlessly came at the then-middleweight champion Israel Adesanya during the pre-fight press conference. It was a pretty unprecedented scene to see a flyweight antagonize the former champion, but it came as a result of Mokaev losing out on his matchup with Adesanya’s injured teammate, Kai Kara-France.

Kape’s cheeky nature, albeit received as somewhat unsavory by fans at times, was often on display in Japan during his RIZIN days and has carried over to the UFC. Mokaev has allegedly found that out the hard way and if the claims are true, could theoretically lead to the fight’s jeopardy.

That probably won’t happen because it’s the UFC. Dan Ige did just fight on four hours’ notice, after all. The point is, the last thing Kape needs is another bout cancelation.

“Then Mokaev said, ‘I’m going to catch you,’” Silva continued. “Mokaev had said he was going to slap [Kape] in the face. Then [Kape] saw Mokaev and Mokaev wanted to apologize. He 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, he arrived and headbutted Mokaev and elbowed him. Mokaev fell to the ground. Then the Russians just watched.”

“This will be the second time I’m going to hit you, [Mokaev], but calm down,” Kape said, entering the interview briefly.

As for Silva, “Lord” scored a stellar second-round knockout at UFC 303 this past Saturday when he uncorked a nasty combination to put away Charles Jourdain. The win was the Brazilian’s 10th straight (2-0 in UFC, 12-2 overall).