Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Asakura, UFC 310 ceremonial weigh-in Credit: Gabriel Gonzalez/Cageside Press
Japan’s Kai Asakura got the opportunity of a lifetime at UFC 310 on Saturday. Making his promotional debut and gaining his first exposure in front of many North American fans, Asakura was the card’s headliner, challenging flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja for the gold medal.
A win could usher in a new wave of Japanese MMA, with names like Rei Tsuruya and Tatsuro Heita emerging. But facing Brazilian champion Pantoja will not be easy.
Immediately after, Pantohable lunged forward, momentarily dropping Asakura with a left hand, and taking him down immediately after. Asakura regains the bar ring and quickly stands up. Asakura begins to perform strong outside leg kicks. H hits a nasty knee to the body and Pantoga catches it. Pantoja quickly responded by returning his hands. You can see that Asakura is fast because he covered a lot of space when he threw his hands. Asakura also threw kicks, so it wasn’t just his hands. Pantoja also fought back little by little with his own kicks. Pantoja successfully threw a punch followed by a kick. Asakura looked okay, but Pantoja outmatched him with striking and grabbed key moments.
In the second round, Pantoja supported Asakura with a powerful straight jab. He pushed Asakura against the cage and tried to jump on his back. He didn’t get that far at first, but used the cage to adjust and take the back to ground the match. Pantoja soon locked up the RNC and put Asakura to sleep.
Alexandre Pantoja def. Kai Asakura Submission (RNC), Round 2 (2:05)
Previous articleShavkat Rakhmonov decides to face Belal Muhammad
Source link
