Manel Kape reveals rib injury caused UFC Fight Night 241 withdrawal vs. Matheus Nicolau
Manel Kape can’t catch a break.
Kape (19-6 MMA, 4-2 UFC) on Tuesday pulled out of his UFC Fight Night 241 headliner vs. Matheus Nicolau (19-4-1 MMA, 7-2) scheduled for April 27 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and was replaced by Alex Perez.
Kape and Nicolau were originally scheduled to run things back in January, but the fight was scrapped after Kape missed weight by 3.5 pounds.
In a social media post Wednesday morning, “Starboy” revealed that he broke his rib and required surgery.
This is the first time I’ve ever pull out of a fight, I broke the cartilage of my rib and I couldn’t move for a week. On Thursday last week my surgery went extremely well. Bare in mind that all my fights that got cancelled in the past was due to my opponents.
Where I came from…
— マネル・ケイプ موسى Manel Kape (@ManelKape) April 3, 2024
“This is the first time I’ve ever pull out of a fight, I broke the cartilage of my rib and I couldn’t move for a week. On Thursday last week my surgery went extremely well. Bare in mind that all my fights that got cancelled in the past was due to my opponents. Where I came from we used to fight for free, I’m not bragging about I’m just being honest so don’t ever think I’m like some of you guys. ALLAH IS THE GREAT #notimeforbrokepeople #mytimeismoney.”
After four fights in 2021, Kape competed only once each in 2022 and 2023. Currently riding a four-fight winning streak, Kape has seen nine fights scrapped since joining the UFC roster in March 2020. Many of those fights were canceled because of his opponents, but it was Kape who withdrew from his past two scheduled bouts vs. Nicolau.