Kai Kara-France wants his title shot.
A one-time UFC interim title challenger, Kara-France reestablished his standing in the flyweight division in thunderous fashion on Saturday, knocking out Steve Erceg with first-round barrage in UFC 305’s co-main event. The win marked Kara-France’s return from a 14-month layoff and sent a message to the rest of the 125-pound division after Erceg mounted a mighty challenge to Alexandre Pantoja’s UFC flyweight belt just three months ago.
“If you break down this fight, I just beat the guy that everyone thought should’ve been the champion. I just beat him in the first round,” Kara-France said Saturday night. “It’s taking time away from the sport, coming back and making a statement with my actions. I’ve heard the UFC want to bring in this guy from Japan called Kai [Asakura], but I’m the real Kai.
“This is my home. You can’t just come in and think you can bang with the big dogs because you think you’re good. It just doesn’t work like that. You’ve got to earn it, and I’ve been in this company for a while now, I’ve fought everyone in this flyweight division, and I’ve [said] it time and time again, I’m going to let my actions be my loudest voice and I’m making noise now. So Alexandre Pantoja, I know he doesn’t have a fight booked — I might’ve just leap-frogged my way back into a title shot, so that’s how I see it happening.”
The other Kai referenced by Kara-France is Kai Asakura, a former RIZIN bantamweight champion who inked a deal with UFC in June. Since his signing, Asakura has been rumored to be the next challenger to Pantoja’s flyweight title, but Kara-France has other ideas.
Though the 31-year-old New Zealander entered UFC 305 on a two-fight losing streak to Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi, the Albazi loss was a highly controversial decision and the Moreno loss came in Kara-France’s shot at the interim belt. Prior to that, Kara-France racked up an impressive three-fight UFC win streak over Rogerio Bontorin, Cody Garbrandt, and Askar Askarov.
Kara-France is currently the highest ranked UFC flyweight contender to have not already lost to Pantoja in a professional bout — Pantoja did beat Kara-France in a two-round exhibition on The Ultimate Fighter 24 in 2016 — so Kara-France feels he is well within his rights to tell the UFC newcomer Asakura to wait his turn in lines.
“If they want me to fight for the title, I would happily wait until December,” Kara-France said.
“Me and Pantoja have a history. We’ve shared the octagon, season 24 on The Ultimate Fighter. It was only a two-round fight, so we couldn’t really showcase all our skills cutting weight week in, week out on that show. But I know him, he’s done really well in the UFC, and being the champion now, nothing but props. And he’s a dog and I love his fight style, but I feel like I can be the one to take him out. He hasn’t fought me in the UFC properly yet, so if he wants, let’s do it. If the UFC want to make it, let’s do it in December.”
