There was one more fight that went down at the Meta Apex on Saturday night following UFC’s Manel Kape vs. Kyoji Horiguchi event, and it wasn’t between licensed athletes. Sources have confirmed to MMA Mania that an incident occurred backstage following the headline bout that saw MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz take a swing at XTreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick.
It’s unclear what started the altercation, which was initially reported by TheStarched and Blake Avignon. Kape trains at XTreme Couture and is represented by Abdelaziz, so you’d think spirits would be high following his third round TKO of Horiguchi, which likely earned “Starboy” a long-awaited flyweight title shot. Instead, the two were separated and Abdelaziz was reportedly removed from the Meta Apex.
That incident on Saturday night was the impetus for a back-and-forth between Nicksick protege Sean Strickland and Manel Kape on X (formerly Twitter) days later.
“Ali was arrested for being a f–king terrorist then snitched on his terrorist boys,” Strickland declared. “He could offer me a billion dollars to manage me and I’d tell him to get f–ked because I’m an American … F–k Ali… The only thing that would make me feel better is if he was standing in front of me so I could say it to his face.”
“Sean, it’s funny how tough you act online when you’re quiet face to face,” Kape responded. “You had the chance to say all that to him in person, but you said nothing. Next time, keep my friend’s name out of your mouth b–ch cuz you know how b–ch you are, b–ch.”
This isn’t the first time that Abdelaziz has been accused of starting fights at MMA events. Back in 2018, video surfaced of Abdelaziz and his client Kamaru Usman brawling in the crowd at the PFL’s first event in New York. One year later at another PFL event, Abdelaziz punched fellow MMA manager Abe Kawa in the face. At UFC 268 in 2021, Abdelaziz slapped Dillon Danis in the face.
Nicksick is no Danis, though. It’s hard to find anyone with anything bad to say about the XTreme Couture head coach, so it should be interesting to learn what led Abdelaziz to attack him. Could there be consequences? The UFC has been very hands off in the past and Abdelaziz is extremely well connected within the UFC. But it’s one thing for fighters to act up and another for managers to punch coaches. We’ll see if anything comes of this.
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