Kai Kara-France believes his first round stoppage win against Steve Erceg at UFC 305, should put him in line to be the next man to face Alexandre Pantoja.
The Flyweight returned to the UFC octagon last Saturday night (August 17) and stopped Erceg in the very first round of their co-main event bout and picked up a performance of the night bonus in the process.
The bout marked his first time back in competition for 14 months, after a concussion kept him away from competing for an extended period of time. Post fight, ‘Don’t Blink’ spoke with the media and expressed his delight at not only being back to winning ways, but being back competing, He said:
“Yeah. It's just. I'm just proud of myself. Proud of my team. This year that I've took time away just to prioritize what's most important and that to me, you know, that's my wife and my two kids. So just being present and giving them all my attention and then when the time was right to step back into my normal setting and build for, for this fight. Just (to) be, firing on every level, physically, emotionally, spiritually and yeah, tonight just executed everything that we've been working towards in the last 12 weeks.
“It's a pretty surreal feeling and to have everything come together this week, (I) felt so calm in there tonight and definitely made a statement, don't count me out and remind everyone I'm one of the best Flyweights.”
The start of the end for Erceg came when Kara-France threw an overhand right that just fell short but as the New Zealand man immediately stepped through and landed a flush overhand left on the chin of Erceg before piling on the pressure to take the win. Reflecting on the bout, Kara-France knew he had to be wary of the traps Erceg would be trying to set up but felt that the overhand was always going to be the shot that led to the win.
“Steve is such a crafty fighter. He's setting up traps and he's quite big and rangy for the Flyweight division, so I had to set everything up. I couldn’t just expect to win punches and think that that was going to connect and I had to listen to my corner.
“The advice from Eugene and the rest of our coaches just touch him, go to the body and set up your second phase. That first phase isn't going to be there because he's going to pull back or drift or do something to evade, but if I set it up with something and then come in and commit, I knew tonight I would land that shot.”
With the win, the 34-year-old thinks he has done enough to secure a title shot against Pantoja, who at the time of writing, is not booked for his next title defence.
“Well, if you break down this fight, I just beat the guy that everyone thought should have been the champion.
“I just beat him in the first round. 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, 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 doesn't work like that. You got to earn it. I've been in this company for a while now, I fought everyone in this Flyweight division and I've told 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 just leapfrog my way back into a title shot. So that's how I see it happening.”
Watch the full interview below:
