Kai Kara France will be keeping an eye on the upcoming title fight between Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Asakura.
Asakura will make his promotional debut on Saturday when he challenges for Pantoja’s flyweight title in the main event of UFC 310 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Kara-France believes he is next in line for title contention and will be keeping an eye on this matchup.
Kara-France also believes he has the knockout power to shut out either Pantoja or Asakura. If Pantoja wins, “Don’t Blink” hopes to have the home crowd cheering him on as he can avenge his loss to the Brazilian at “The Ultimate Fighter 24” in 2016. On the other hand, if Asakura wins, Kara-France would like to travel to enemy territory and challenge the Japanese flyweight division.
“I feel like I can definitely beat Kai or Pantoja,” Kara-France told Engage. “So I’m going to go along with it. If Pantoja wins, let’s fight in New Zealand, let’s say.” I’ll put me and his title in the headlines in front of people… There’s a story. [if Kai wins] In the same way. I want to go back there and fight in front of all the Japanese fans at Super Saitama Arena and fight for the title there. That would be great. ”
Kara-France spent most of his early career fighting in Asia, but his only bout at Japan’s Super Saitama Arena ended in a unanimous decision loss to Ryuko Wada. Kara France bounced back from a two-fight slump with a knockout victory over Steve Artheg.
Meanwhile, Pantoja is on a six-fight winning streak following his title win over Brandon Moreno, including defenses against Brandon Roybal and Erceg. Asakura is a former RIZIN bantamweight champion, with wins over Manel Cape and Kyoji Horiguchi, and is currently on a string of stoppage wins.
