Kai Kara-France details the cost — both monetarily and status-wise — of losing an iffy decision to Amir Albazi in Las Vegas last weekend.
Kai Kara-France vs. Amir Albazi, which took place this past weekend (Sat., June 10, 2023) in Las Vegas, Nevada, marked the first time in nearly six years that Flyweight contenders were charged with headlining 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 No. 1 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,” he continued. “You take a step back and think what are these judges looking at?”
Check out the scorecard below:
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The one round in question is the fourth frame, which most onlookers would agree was among the best five minutes Kara-France turned in during the 25-minute contest. Lee is no stranger to calling a fight different from his fellow judges; in fact, Kara-France’s training partner, Middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, called out Lee and Sal D’Amato — who also comes under frequent fire — before the bout even began.
“Fire Chris Lee & Sal Deez nuts,” Adesanya wrote. “I tweeted that before even seeing the scorecards because I knew them two will f—k it up!! Hoooow many times will they rob athletes of their moments of glory, if their money, their livelihood for their family. F—ck them c—ts, they need to expire quickly and go. Mike Bell was the only judge to score this properly, the other two deff need to disappear.”
Kara-France is already looking forward to his next fight. UFC recently announced a return to Sydney, Australia, and “Don’t Blink” is hoping to get on the card against No. 11-ranked, Tim Elliott.
“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.”
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