Manel Kape reveals injury that forced him out of UFC Vegas 91 main event

Manel Kape will have to wait until sometime later in 2024 to continue his hunt for a title shot in the UFC flyweight division.

On Tuesday, Kape was ruled out of his fight against Matheus Nicolau, which was originally scheduled to headline UFC Vegas 91 on April 27. Kape was replaced by one-time title challenger Alex Perez, who now faces Nicolau in the five-round main event.

Kape later revealed that a rib injury ultimately forced him to drop off the card and he actually had to undergo surgery to repair the damage done.

“This is the first time I’ve ever [pulled] out of a fight,” Kape wrote on Twitter. “I broke the cartilage of my rib and I couldn’t move for a week. On Thursday last week my surgery went extremely well. Bear 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.”

Kape was actually scheduled to clash with Nicolau back in January but the former RIZIN fighter hit the scales at 129.5 pounds — three and a half pounds over the flyweight limit for a non-title fight. The bout was eventually cancelled with Kape later stating that he suffered through an illness in the leadup to the fight that affected his weight cut but he still wanted to compete.

Regardless, the fight was scrapped and then rescheduled as a main event in April.

Now that matchup has also been cancelled with Kape suffering the rib injury that will keep his sidelined for the time being.

Kape is currently riding a four-fight win streak, including two knockouts along the way, but his last performance took place this past September in a Fight of the Night effort at UFC 293. This injury will keep him out of action even longer with no exact timeline on when he’ll fight again.