Featuring at tonight’s UFC 310 pre-fight press conference ahead of his flyweight title fight, Kai Asakura offered a resounding prediction for his clash with Alexandre Pantoja — vowing to make 125lbs “great again” — by stopping the Brazilian with a knockout win.
Asakura, a former two-time Rizin FF bantamweight gold holder, will step inside the Octagon for the first time this weekend, making his promotional debut in an immediate title charge against dominant gold holder, Pantoja.
Entering his organizational bow in the midst of a two-fight winning run, Asakura, who has been sidelined since December of last year, most recently turned in a second round knockout win over former Bellator MMA bantamweight champion, Juan Archuleta.
Kai Asakura vows to make flyweight division “great again” beginning at UFC 310
And making his way to tonight’s UFC 310 press event ahead of his clash with Pantoja, Asakura displayed some of his bilingual tongue — vowing to knock out the Brazilian in definitive fashion to snatch the flyweight gold in his debut outing, before going on to make the flyweight class and it’s status “great again”.
“I’m here to make the UFC flyweight division great again,” Kai Asakura told assembled media from the stage during the UFC 310 pre-fight press conference tonight.
Swaggering onto the stage for his face-off with Pantoja off the back of the event, Asakura stared down with the incumbent — before embracing him and shaking hands, in a rather awkward exchange between the duo.
Himself sidelined since defending the flyweight crown for the second time earlier this year, Pantoja returned to his native Brazil back in May, landing a hard-fought decision win over Australian title challenger, Steve Erceg at UFC 301.