Kai Kara-France vs Brandon Moreno II Preview
Kai Kara-France may be one of Aotearoa's most underrated athletes and his interim flyweight championship bout against Brandon Moreno at UFC 277 can't slip under your radar. At the start of the pandemic Kara-France was grinding through the flyweight void and this phase started with a loss to Moreno late in 2019, followed by a pre-pandemic win early in 2020 and a loss to Brandon Royval later in 2020. None of that suggested a possible champion and yet Kara-France has won three consecutive fights since then to command an interim championship bout.
After defeating Kara-France, Moreno won two more fights and then started his championship trilogy with Deiveson Figueiredo. These two had a draw first up, then Moreno won the championship before losing to Figueiredo earlier this year. Figueiredo is the champion and he's out injured right now, leading to this fight between Kara-France and Moreno for an interim championship. The winner will probably fight Figueiredo to see who is the true champ.
While that championship trilogy was going down, Kara-France had two first round finishes and a decision win. Kara-France showed his power and striking prowess in those finishes, especially against Cody Garbrandt as Kara-France showcased City Kickboxing's world-class striking. Kara-France finished Rogerio Bontorin prior to that Garbrandt fight and that was his first finish in the UFC, perhaps pointing to a more clinical kiwi.
Kara-France has had nine fights in the UFC, with seven wins and two losses. Five of those wins are by decision and while Kara-France has found a finishing groove recently, his last outing against Askar Askarov was an intriguing decision victory. Against Askarov, Kara-France showcased the other aspect of CKB's recipe as he dealt with Askarov's 2/14 takedown attempts and 5:14 minutes of control time to take a fairly comprehensive win.
Askarov's style skews more towards takedowns and grappling than striking. Kara-France stayed calm and worked through his defensive grappling process in each of the three rounds, while doubling Askarov's striking output. This provides a double-whammy of confidence for Kara-France as he found a fresh finishing wrinkle and also handled a bloke who loves to grapple.
Moreno is as well-rounded as Kara-France. Both have powerful striking and a wide range of strikes to deploy, although Moreno is more likely to attack with his grappling than Kara-France. With my Aotearoa goggles on to provide a tinge of bias, Kara-France can strike with anyone in this division because of his CKB training base. The challenge for Kara-France will be maintaining that striking under pressure from Moreno and that might come in the form of Moreno's frantic pace, or his grappling.
When they last fought, Moreno didn't attempt a takedown. Moreno then landed a takedown in each of his fights against Figueiredo and a combined 7 takedowns across the three fights. Moreno's win over Figueiredo came via submission and Moreno averages 1.84 takedowns per 15mins compared to Kara-France's 0.43 takedowns.
This sets up an enticing tactical for CKB's coaching staff led by Eugene Bareman. They have a previous fight against Moreno to draw upon and while there is plenty of UFC tape on Moreno, three consecutive fights against the same opponent in recent years will provide further insights. Kara-France is well equipped to execute the coaches plans and adapt throughout the fight, also capable of a hearty stand and bang if required.
Kara-France can shake that low key, underrated type of vibe with a win over Moreno. Kara-France may be the most likeable CKB fighter in the UFC and his mana is already palpable, demanding progression through his actions rather than chatting up a storm. This will hopefully result in another CKB champion, even if it's of the interim variety.
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