Manel Kape shuts the door on eye poke controversy, feels Asu Almabayev running away was more of an ‘embarrassment’

Manel Kape isn’t losing any sleep at night over his knockout win over Asu Almabayev after there were complaints that a late eye poke somehow affected the outcome of the fight.

The controversial moment came in the final round when replays showed Kape’s fingers scraping across Almabayev’s eye, which referee Mike Beltran didn’t catch. A few moments later, Kape was unloading punches to ultimately score a third-round knockout in what was largely a one-sided fight from start to finish.

A couple of days later, Almabayev posted a graphic photo on social media showing off a bloodshot eye signaling the damage he took from the foul that wasn’t called but Kape isn’t buying it.

“He posted this [photo] — people always will talk,” Kape told MMA Fighting. “If you see my fight against Bruno Silva, the last kick was not a low kick. Watching in slow motion, it touched his liver. You can see the reaction. People talk ‘low blow’ like I was not winning the fight, I was not picking them apart.

“Against Asu, his eye became like that, it was the first punch. 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.”

Kape was definitely getting the better of the exchanges on the feet and Almabayev couldn’t find a home for his wrestling in an attempt to slow down the fast, devastating combinations coming back at him.

As far as the eye poke that didn’t get called in the closing seconds before the fight was over, Kape is quick to point out that Almabayev wasn’t defending himself but rather just running away to avoid absorbing further damage.

Kape admits he was reaching out with an open hand but only because Almabayev turned and ran across the cage to get away from the barrage of strikes. By that point, Kape knew that the fight was almost over and he was just trying to connect with the shots to put Almabayev down and out for good.

“Yes, normally that might be my fault because he was running a lot and I tried to catch him as he was running,” Kape explained. “I extended my hand as a slap. The second one catches him like this. It was not something very deeply to bother him to not fight because even when he started, I let him [go] for two or three seconds and he was good. He tried to go for the takedown.”

For all the attention being paid to the late eye poke and the photo posted on social media showing off Almabayev’s mangled eye, Kape knows he was in complete control of that fight and things weren’t getting any better for his opponent.

Of course, Kape isn’t all that surprised that he’s facing criticism afterward because that’s just something he’s come to expect since joining the UFC roster.

“It was not an eye poke that made the fight, that finished the fight,” Kape said. “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. It’s going to be like one or two days people are going to hate you, they love you, all this stuff, making excuses.

“It was not the eye poke that made the fight. I was picking him apart. Honestly, it was one of the easiest fights. I told him it was going to be a long night. They just was not ready to believe that. They always want to try to find excuses to my great performance. Everybody hates the great fighters.”

Despite the controversy that stirred up afterward, Kape doesn’t hold any ill will towards Almabayev.

He just suggests that Almabayev take some responsibility for his own performance after he was getting beaten in one-sided fashion.

“It’s bad he posted the eye poke,” Kape said. “I don’t know what his intention is to say? Because the fight is over already. It’s not something dramatic. You shouldn’t have posted it because you was running [away] in the cage.

“If you don’t want to punch, cover yourself but don’t run. This is more embarrassment than the eye poke. Everybody chooses the way they want to lose. I’m never going to lose as a coward but that’s the life.”