As the #4-ranked contender in the flyweight division, Kai Kara-France believes that he deserves the next shot at the champion, Alexandre Pantoja.
"Don't Blink" is coming off of a first-round knockout win over Steve Erceg at UFC 305 in August which marked his return to the Octagon after spending over a year out.
The flyweight division has been exciting in 2024 but it's major issue right now is finding new and interesting challenges for Pantoja who has already beaten many of the division's best.
Hence why Kai Asakura went straight into a title fight at UFC 310 several weeks ago where he was submitted by the champion in the second round.
Kara-France made his case for why he deserves to be next during a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show:
"Putting myself back in the best position possible and that's title contention. The way this flyweight division is working, Moreno's fought Pantoja three times, he's lost all three times. Royval's lost to Pantoja twice and Amir, the only guy in front of me, he lost to Moreno and was just outclassed and everyone knows that I won that fight against Amir but the judges thought otherwise but hey."
The City Kickboxing fighter is confident that Pantoja will fight him next in what would be a rematch of their first meeting on The Ultimate Fighter back in 2016.
Unlike his relationship with fellow contender Manel Kape, Kara-France says there is a lot of respect between him and "The Cannibal".
"There's no bad blood. It's not like me and Manel. This guy just loves saying my name and loves to talk but doesn't like to back it up. He has one good fight in a few years and he thinks he can coast off that. It's different energy when you know someone is down to earth, grounded."
Kara-France was set to fight Kape at UFC 293 last year but was forced to withdraw from an injury that kept him out of action for 11 months.
This lead to a heated exchange between them at the press conference for that event where "Starboy" stayed on the card and defeated Felipe dos Santos.
Kape recently called out Kara-France following his impressive showing against Bruno Silva this past weekend in Tampa but the Kiwi contender is looking forwards and not backwards right now.
"He fought Mokaev, he lost, he got very humbled there and he still needs to be humbled so I'm not going to give him the satisfaction. I'm worried about a title fight, that's what I'm looking at. When I win the belt and if he's still winning or if he's doing well in his career, we might meet later on down the track but for now, he's all just talk. A lot of bark, no bite."
Watch the full interview below:
