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Kai Kara-France took on Amir Albazi in a clash of flyweight contenders at the UFC Vegas 74 headliner. The Kiwi went on to drop a closely contested split decision after 25 minutes of grueling action.
Kara-France's teammate from Auckland's City Kickboxing gym, UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was seemingly unhappy with the scorecards. Venting out his disappointment with curt phrases, 'The Last Stylebender' wrote on Twitter:
"Nah bro…Fuck yous!!!"
Adesanya also called for the sacking of judges Chris Lee and Sal D'Amato, both of whom scored three rounds in favor of Albazi. The UFC middleweight champ wrote in a subsequent tweet:
"Fire Chris Lee & Sal Deez nuts."
Adesanaya further claimed to have called out the two aforementioned judges without having a look at the scorecard as he was sure of the culprits.
'The Last Stylebender' further called for NBA style post-match interviews to be arranged for UFC judges.
Kai Kara-France and Amiz Albazi went toe-to-toe from the opening bell, both throwing with intent but neither landing flush initially. While Kara-France started finding more success on the feet as the fight progressed, 'The Prince' resorted to wrestling as expected.
Despite an incredible display of takedown defense by 'Don't Blink', Albazi managed to record over six minutes of ground control apart from a threatening a rear naked choke attempt in the third round. While Kara-France outlanded Albazi 99 to 43 in terms of significant strikes, the Iraqi roped in a controversial split decision in the end.
Kai Kara-France learnt a lesson from Israel Adesanya's win over Alex Pereira
Israel Adesanya avenged three previous losses with a brutal second round KO win over Alex Pereira at UFC 287 in April. Adesanya's teammate Kai Kara-France has a somewhat similar history with UFC flyweight champ Brandon Moreno who he has already lost to twice.
Coming off his second loss against "The Assassin Baby", Kara-France had something important to take away from Adesanya's win over 'Poatan'. 'Don't Blink' recently told Submission Radio:
"It's just that self-belief you've gotta have in yourself. Izzy's always been the reminder of the way you [should]atalk to yourself. You've got to always hold onto that hope, that fighting spirit; that's always gotta be embedded in you. That's something you can't learn, it's just something that's gotta be in you. I guess me being Māori, I always fall back on my culture and look at what my ancestors would have done. That's a great blueprint for me... It's in my blood to go to war."
Catch Kara-France's comments below:
