Alexandre Pantoja acknowledges that Kai Kara-France will not be the identical fighter he met almost a decade in the past.
In 2009, ‘The Cannibal’ scored a unanimous choice win over Kara-France in a quarterfinal match on TUF 24. Right this moment, Pantoja has a stranglehold on the flyweight division, securing large wins over Brandon Moreno, Brandon Royval, Steve Erceg, and Kai Asakura in his final 4 outings.
However whereas Pantoja has been holding issues down because the undisputed 125-pound king, Kara-France has been slowly making his means up the rankings, desperately looking for a possibility at each redemption and UFC gold.
‘Don’t Blink’ will lastly get that probability this Saturday night time when the promotion heads again to Las Vegas for a loaded UFC 317 card. Within the co-main occasion of the night, Pantoja will put his flyweight title on the road in opposition to Kara-France.
Kara-France might be combating for greater than himself at UFC 317
Talking on their extremely anticipated conflict throughout Wednesday’s UFC 317 media day, Pantoja is aware of he’s stepping contained in the Octagon with a way more harmful athlete than the 23-year-old child he met all these years in the past on The Final Fighter.
“After I fought Asakura, he despatched me a message on Instagram and stated, ‘I’m the subsequent.’ I stated, ‘I hope so, brother.’ Kara-France is an actual good man, tremendous humble,” Pantoja stated. “He appears to be like extra harmful now as a result of he has a household. After I fought him the primary time, he didn’t have a household. Now he has youngsters, he has a household, and that makes him extra harmful.
“I do know that as a result of I’ve my household to battle for, to feed. That’s good recommendation for myself. When the Octagon is locked, Kai Kara-France doesn’t battle only for himself anymore—he fights for his household.”
Whereas Pantoja could also be effectively conscious of how motivated Kara-France is, the oddsmakers actually don’t appear to agree. Because it stands, ‘The Cannibal’ is a -240 favourite to retain his title, whereas the New Zealander is a -200 underdog.
