Kai Kara-France will look to end the winning run of Amir Albazi when the pair meet in the flyweight main event for a UFC Fight Night at the APEX Facility in Las Vegas on the morning of Sunday 4 June 2023.
Kara-France (24-10, 1 NC) is looking to bounce back after suffering a third-round TKO loss to Brandon Moreno in an interim flyweight title fight in July last year. It was a first defeat for ‘Don’t Blink’ since September 2020 and he will look to impress in the UFC’s first non-title flyweight main event since 2017.
“I found out that my next fight, I'm the headline, now it's five rounds. I'm going to go out there and remind everyone why I'm the best in the world,” said the 30-year-old New Zealand fighter.
Albazi (16-1) has put together a run of five straight wins (four of them in the UFC since switching across from Brave CF in 2020), most recently claiming a third-round KO triumph over Alessandro Costa in December 2022.
The 29-year-old Iraqi, who is nicknamed ‘The Prince’, has promised to submit France in this main event.
“Kai is a very good opponent, and a good test for me. He has fought many veterans and also fought for the [interim] title,” said Albazi.
“His strength is in the stand-up, and his weakness is his grappling, where I thrive – so it will be a battle of wills. I will maul him until I choke him out.”
The rest of the main card will feature Alex Caceres v Daniel Pineda in the featherweight division; a light clash between Jim Miller and Jared Gordon; Tim Elliott takes on Victor Altamirano in the flyweight category; Karine Silva v Ketlen Souza in the women’s flyweight division; and a lightweight opener between Jamie Mullarkey and Guram Kutateladze.
UFC Fight Night: Kara-France v Albazi – main card
- Main event: Flyweight: Kai Kara-France v Amir Albazi
- Featherweight: Alex Caceres v Daniel Pineda
- Lightweight: Jim Miller v Jared Gordon
- Flyweight: Tim Elliott v Victor Altamirano
- Women’s flyweight: Karine Silva v Ketlen Souza
- Lightweight: Jamie Mullarkey v Guram Kutateladze