Kai Kara-France thinks that flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo wasted his chance to keep the UFC from creating an interim belt for the division.
The 29-year-old recently appeared on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani in the lead-up to his co-main event bout with Brandon Moreno at UFC 277. When asked about Figueiredo’s apparent frustrations with the UFC for booking an interim flyweight title fight between Kara-France and Moreno, “Don’t Blink” was unsympathetic.
“Bro, you missed your shot,” Kara-France said. “Before the fight you were saying ‘I don’t wanna fight Brandon’ because he’s been racist, then he’s saying he’s injured. When an offer comes to you, even if you’re the champ you have a little bit of – well, you do have a big say in the fight – but if you don’t wanna fight, the UFC aren’t gonna wait. That’s just how the business is. If you’re here to fight, then that’s what they’ll do. They’ll match you up.”
Figueiredo is coming off a unanimous decision win over Moreno at UFC 270 where the Brazilian reclaimed the UFC flyweight title. The trilogy between “Deus Da Guerra” and Moreno currently stands at one win apiece, plus a majority draw in their initial 2020 meeting.
The UFC were originally looking into a fourth fight between Figueiredo and Moreno, but ultimately opted for an interim title fight between Kara-France and “The Assassin Baby”.
“With Figueiredo, saying all these things and not really committing, that just shows that he doesn’t really wanna fight. Even though he’s the champ,” Kara-France told Helwani. “I’m not looking too far ahead, but once I get past Brandon, we can unify this.”
The City Kickboxing-trained flyweight most recently earned a unanimous decision over Askar Askarov in March. That was his third win in a row following first-round stoppages of Cody Garbrandt and Rogério Bontorin.
No matter what the flyweight champion may have to say about the interim belt, “Don’t Blink” knows it’s only a matter of time before they settle things in the cage.
“The fight’s gonna happen eventually. We haven’t fought each other yet, and this flyweight division is so small that we’ll cross paths sooner or later.”
What do you make of Kara-France’s comments about Deiveson Figueiredo?
Continue Reading Kara-France On Champion Figueiredo: “He Doesn’t Really Wanna Fight” at MMA News.