Manel Kape Wants To Feel Something

“Sometimes it becomes frustrating, having all these camps that I’ve been doing, and I know that I’ve been in great shape,” said Kape, who is penciled in to compete this weekend in Sydney at UFC 293 against newcomer Felipe dos Santos. “I was 28 years old, now I’m 29, and I’m about to turn 30 in November — I feel like this is wasted time in my career. I know I’m still young, but I’m losing good moments of my career.

“All these pullouts, all these fights that have been canceled, they happen for a reason but, at the same time, it’s a little bit frustrating.”

A March meeting with Alex Perez was canceled the day of the bout when the former title challenger fell ill backstage prior to their bout. A July engagement against former champion Deiveson Figueiredo was scheduled, but scuttled when the Brazilian wasn’t medically cleared to compete.

This weekend, he was supposed to face Kai Kara-France, only to have “Don’t Blink” suffer an injury that forced him to the sidelines, as well, opening the door for the 22-year-old dos Santos to hustle in and take his place.

Speaking with the confident and competitive flyweight about the litany of cancelations and changes that have thus far been the trademark element of his UFC career, you can see the frustration that being sidelined as a result of things completely out of his control has on Kape.

When we spoke at the beginning of 2021 — before his promotional debut against current champ Alexandre Pantoja — the new arrival was confident that he would stand atop the division by the end of the year.

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Now, more than two years later, he is stationed at No. 10 in the rankings, having not competed since last year’s final fight card, still searching for the kind of signature performances that would validate and justify the tremendous hype that accompanied his arrival and the lofty praise often heaped upon him by teammates, coaches, and members of the media.

Frustrating as the situation has been, Kape has been able to keep a level head about everything thanks to two things.

“Every fight that has been canceled, the next fight that they offered me is always a better fighter, so this is what makes me excited,” Kape said, identifying the first element that has helped him maintain a mostly positive outlook through the string of scuttled bouts. “We had Bontorin, he was No. 8, and he pulled out because he couldn’t make weight, and we got David Dvorak. After that, we have Alex Perez, and after Alex Perez, it was supposed to be Deiveson (Figueiredo) and Kai Kara-France, so it’s always a good matchup, always a high-ranked fighter.

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“I did change my mentality a little bit because I have a daughter now and I’m more focused,” continued the proud father, shifting his thoughts to his little girl. “I know what I have to do to be a champion — I’ve been a champion before — and I know I have the skills for that, so I just change my mentality. I focus more on my daughter, giving everything to her, and this is what makes me more focused, more of a savage.

“She’s my fuel,” he added, beaming. “I come back from training tired, and the energy comes back again. This is my reason. This is why I’m doing this. I have my purpose in life to be the best, but it’s all to give the best to my family.”

While he’s been able to maintain a positive outlook on things and look at his year-long predicament as him leveling up without actually stepping into the Octagon to compete, there is also a part of the talented flyweight that still doesn’t trust that Saturday’s bout with dos Santos is going to happen.

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“It’s funny, I met Sean Shelby last month and he said, ‘Congratulations! I know Deiveson pulled out but you have a fight with Kai Kara-France,’ and I told him, ‘I don’t know — we’ll see when we get there,’” Kape recalled, laughing at the fact that his reluctance was justified.

“I don’t know what’s going on. Is it a curse? Some people told me ‘it’s because you beat Ian McCall — he had this curse too in the UFC!’”

The mention of “Uncle Creepy” makes us both break out laughing, in part because the idea of a curse passing from the former flyweight standout to Kape through their 2017 encounter kind of feels like the most reasonable explanation for what has been happening.

McCall made his UFC debut in March 2012 as part of the four-man tournament designed to crown the first flyweight champion, initially battling Demetrious Johnson to a majority draw before falling to “Mighty Mouse” three months later when they ran it back.

He stayed in contention for the next couple years, but he was also forced to withdraw from fights as often as he was able to make it to the Octagon, going 2-2 following his two-fight series with Johnson. And then, between August 8, 2015 to February 11, 2017, McCall had six different bouts fall apart for one reason or another. Sometimes he got injured or ill. Other times, it was his opponent that missed weight or was forced to withdraw.

He finally stepped into the ring again on December 29 of that year, losing to Kape in the fight that might have passed his bad luck on to “StarBoy.”

“This time, I feel a little bit of hope,” said Kape, looking ahead to Saturday’s contest with dos Santos, who got the call after his Dana White’s Contender Series opponent missed weight by a considerable amount prior to their Week 3 encounter, leaving him without a fight.

“This kid wants to fight. He doesn’t have anything to lose. He wants to shock the world. He's just starting, he wants to take all these opportunities, so I believe this kid has the guts the other fighters don’t have.

“Other fighters, they have more to lose — they’re concerned to lose their spot,” continued Kape, who has never been shy to speak his mind about others in the flyweight division.”They don’t have the champion mentality. If you have the mentality to fight, you fight someone else; you go into danger. I believe this kid is going to make it because he has nothing to lose. He’s inexperienced, but he wants to be here.”

As safe as he feels, Kape admitted that he won’t be completely sold on the fact that he’s actually going to compete until he’s standing in the back at Qudos Bank Arena and watching dos Santos make the walk to the Octagon.

But should that happen — when that happens — his long wait will finally be over, and Kape will get to feel and experience all the things he’s been missing since December.

“It’ll feel amazing!” he said, thinking ahead to finally being in the Octagon again. “I want a release; I want to release all the energy accumulated inside of me.

“I want to feel hurt. I want to feel tired. I want to feel all the things I haven’t felt in a long time. I want to feel more.”