UFC flyweight Kai Kara-France will be competing for an interim title. The champ, Deiveson Figueiredo, took exception to what he described as a “plastic belt”, but Kara-France who trains at City Kickboxing alongside two current UFC champions, replied on The MMA Hour: “you missed your shot”.
“Bro, you missed your shot. Before the fight, you were saying, ‘I don’t want to fight Brandon because he’s been racist,’ and then he’s saying he’s injured. When the offer comes to you, even if you’re the champ, you do have a big say in the fight, but if you don’t want to fight, the UFC aren’t going to wait. That’s just how the business is. If you’re here to fight, then that’s what they’ll do: They’ll match you up.”
Kai Kara France to Figueiredo: “Bro, you missed your shot”
Kai Kara-France took advantage of Deiveson’s refusal to fight Brandon Moreno for a fourth time, jumping at the chance to compete for UFC gold.
“When they weren’t going to take that fight, I’m ready to go whenever,” he said. “This is how this fight game is – you’ve got to be ready to fight whenever. If you’re injured, then that gives you a little setback.
You’ve got to take a risk for a reward. And for Figueiredo, saying all these things and not really committing, that just shows he doesn’t really want to fight, even though he’s the champ.”
Kara-France is confident of victory, even projecting a clash in Australia against Figueiredo to unify the division. “I’m not looking too far ahead, but once I get past Brandon, we can unify this.
We just had the big [George] Kambosas [Jr.] fight in Marvel Stadium [in Melbourne]; I wasn’t there, but I was watching a few teammates, and watching that fight, it was awesome to see Marvel packed out again.
We could unify the belt in Marvel Stadium this year when he’s healthy and feeling better. But the fight’s going to happen eventually. We haven’t fought each other yet, and this flyweight division’s so small, we will cross paths sooner or later – that’s if he doesn’t go up to bantamweight.”
All in all, he couldn’t feel better about taking the opportunity. “The division moves forward, and me and Brandon get to square off.
I thought Brandon won their last fight, so in my eyes, I am fighting the best guy and once I get past Brandon, I can fight ‘Figgy,’ and shut him and his coach up. They talk a lot.” Let us know what you think in the comments.
