Manel Kape gets called out by surging flyweight for UFC 290 after Deiveson Figueiredo's withdrawal

Manel Kape is now without an opponent for his scheduled appearance at UFC 290 in July following Deiveson Figueiredo's withdrawal. The former champion last competed against Brandon Moreno in January, where he sustained what appeared to be a broken orbital bone.

'The God of War' recently announced his withdrawal, citing his lingering eye injury as the cause. Kape took to Twitter following the news to blast the former champion for signing a contract that he knows he can't fulfill.

Surging flyweight contender Muhammad Mokaev has now called out Manel Kape after hearing he needs an opponent to face at UFC 290. Mokaev recently defeated Jafel Filho at UFC 286 in March, and appears eager to keep his winning momentum going.

He wrote:

"Manel Kape picked opponents like Fuguiredo who can’t make weight and Alex Perez who pulled out 13 times in 2 years. What do you expect? Im here boy"

See the tweet below:

Mokaev's callout of Manel Kape may come as a surprise to fans who remember the gruesome knee injury he suffered at UFC 286. His opponent secured a tight kneebar in the opening round, but 'The Punisher' refused to tap and appeared to sustain severe damage to his knee.

Muhammad Mokaev posted the following image of his knee on Twitter following UFC 286:

But if Mokaev is eager to compete on UFC 290 in July, the damage may not be as severe as initially thought.

---

Deiveson Figueiredo explains the injury that prevented him from facing Manel Kape at UFC 290

Deiveson Figueiredo was scheduled to make his return to the octagon against Manel Kape at UFC 290 in July following a TKO loss to Brandon Moreno earlier this year.

However, 'The God of War' is yet to fully recover from an eye injury sustained against Moreno, and has not been cleared to compete.

During a recent episode of the MMA Fighting podcast Trocação Franca, Figueiredo explained why he was forced to withdraw from his bout with Kape. He said this:

"I’m still injured. I asked for a fight, told my manager I wanted to fight already, but when he gave me the fight and I talked to my physical therapist and my ophthalmologist, [they said] my eyesight is still not 100 percent. There are days I see things normal, but there are days it’s not OK, especially the days after I train, so they decided I had to go the full six-month [medical suspension] the ophthalmologist gave me [after UFC 283]."

Listen to the podcast below: