Kai Kara-France will fight for the interim UFC flyweight title at UFC 277 in Dallas. Photo / Dean Purcell.
Kai Kara-France will fight for the interim UFC flyweight title at UFC 277 in Dallas. Photo / Dean Purcell.
Kai Kara-France stopped chasing and started believing. Now, he's set for the biggest fight of his mixed martial arts career.
The Kiwi UFC flyweight will fight Brandon Moreno for the division's interim championship at UFC 277 in Dallas on Sunday, earning his shot at the belt after astring of impressive victories.
The 29-year-old goes into the bout with wins in his last three matchups which included two first-round knockouts – including one over former bantamweight world champion Cody Garbrandt. The third, and most recent, was a unanimous decision win, but arguably the most impressive of the three.
"They gave me the toughest matchup – someone who, stylistically, is the worst matchup; someone that should have won," Kara-France reflected of his win in March over previously unbeaten Askar Askarov.
"That fueled my fire. I was in there to prove a point and show how far I've come. That's what I did. I went out there and showed why I'm the next contender. My actions are my loudest voice, not my talking. That's why I'm in the position I am in. I've earned this."
Despite being in some bad positions in that fight, Kara-France maintained his composure and worked his versatile skill set to turn things around.
It has been a feature of his performances over the past 18 months and made a noticeable change in his performances.
"You're seeing that in my fights where I'm a lot more composed, I'm a lot more Zen and, in the moment, I see everything happening – everything's kind of in slow-mo in my head. That's just from the evolution I've come through in this sport; the highs and lows, ups and downs, but we keep turning up and where we are now fighting for a world title," he said.
"I stopped chasing becoming the champion and started believing it. I feel like that's what you're seeing. What you're seeing in the cage is a product of the hard work we're putting in at City Kickboxing. I train with world champions – Alex (Volkanovski), Israel (Adesanya) – and I know what it takes. I know the mindset they have and the high standards they have. It's about ticking off all the boxes, and I've done that in my last few fights."
Kai Kara-France and Brandon Moreno fought in 2019. Moreno won the fight by unanimous decision. Photo / Getty Images
This weekend, Kara-France meets the man who handed him his first loss inside the UFC octagon, with Moreno (19-6; claiming a unanimous decision victory in late 2019. It's a bout Kara-France has been eager to run back, particularly after Moreno went on to win the UFC flyweight title soon after.
With reigning champion Deiveson Figueiredo, who dethroned Moreno in January, injured, Kara-France gets his rematch against Moreno with UFC gold on the line – the winner likely going on to a unification bout against Figueiredo later in the year.
Like their first fight, the match-up promises to be a show for the fans as it pits two durable, active and well-rounded fighters against one another.
However, this time, with a title on the line, it will be contested over a maximum of five rounds rather than the usual three, giving both men more time to stake their claim.
"I'm ready to go wherever the fight goes. It's a five-round fight – my first one – but I'm at the stage where it doesn't really matter who I'm fighting. It's not about that; it's a battle with yourself and I'm more than ready to become a world champion.
"I feel like it's going to be a dogfight. If this goes five rounds – a bloody back and forth war – I'm ready to take it there."
Kara-France and Moreno will square off in the co-main event, with the women's bantamweight title on the line between Julianna Pena and Amanda Nunes in the headline bout.
The card opens with Kara-France's welterweight teammate from Auckland's City Kickboxing gym Blood Diamond against American Orion Cosce. Diamond will get 20 per cent of Cosce's purse for the fight, after the American missed the 77.5kg (171lbs) weight limit for a welterweight non-title bout by 680g (1.5lbs).
Tale of the tape: Kai Kara-France v Brandon Moreno
