Kai Kara-France vs. Amir Albazi marked the first time in nearly six years that flyweights were placed in the headline slot of a UFC event. It’s a pretty rare occurrence for some reason. Not as rare: judges messing up a decision.
Kara-France and Albazi fought hard, but it seemed clear by the final bell that Kai had done enough to earn a win. Many had him up 4-1, most others 3-2. Unfortunately for the New Zealand fighter, two of the three judges saw it 3-2 in favor of Albazi for a split decision win.
On a new episode of The MMA Hour, Kara-France discussed his feelings following the unfortunate setback.
“It’s a tough one when you’re looking at my career right now,” Kara-France said. “That cost me $100,000. That loss cost me my ranking, No. 3 in the world. You know, winning this fight would’ve put me right back in with probably [Brandon] Royval to fight for number one contender. Puts me right back to where I want to be, which is the best in the world.
“It’s a tough one when you look at it like that. You take a step back and think what are these judges looking at?”
Kara-France is already looking forward to his next fight. The UFC recently announced a return to Sydney, Australia and “Don’t Blink” is hoping to get on the card against No. 11 ranked Tim Elliot.
“When I was on The Ultimate Fighter, for some reason we never crossed paths,” he said. “So, who knows? We could be ticking off one of those names come September in Sydney.”
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
