The incoming UFC PPV features a very special newcomer in the main event; a former RIZIN bantamweight champion, whose promotional debut will come against ‘The Cannibal’ with flyweight gold on the line.
Given that the UFC retains a predominantly North American fanbase, there’ll be a significant portion of the UFC 310 viewership who have never seen Kai Asakura fight before – luckily, broadcast partners appear to have struck a deal as career highlights make their way online.
Kai Asakura’s insane MMA career on show ahead of UFC 310 title fight
Only a handful of fighters have ever fought for a UFC title in their promotional debut, with Japanese phenom Kai Asakura set to join that select group when the organization returns to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on December 7.
“There are a lot of people who are going to be exposed to me for the first time [at UFC 310] and they’re going to realize that I have an explosive fight style,” teased Asakura in a recent interview with TMZ Sports.
“I think they’re going to see something that they’ve never seen before – and I want them to be my fans after this fight.”
But why wait for Saturday to become an Asakura super-fan when you could hop on the Japanese fighter’s hype train today?
Over the past few weeks, ESPN MMA has been busy sharing a host of full fights and fight highlights from Asakura’s 13-3 RIZIN career – a career that saw him claim bantamweight gold on two occasions.
Despite Asakura making a name for himself thanks to devastating knockout power, that isn’t to say that the 31-year-old had it all his own way, dropping results to Hiromasa Ougikubo, top UFC contender Manel Kape, and even to the legendary Kyoji Horiguchi.
In fact, Alexandre Pantoja has the benefit of inside knowledge after teaming up with Horiguchi to help him prepare for the promotional newcomer.
Whilst Pantoja remains one of the most popular fighters in the division, Asakura recently told MMA Junkie that he believes it’d be “good business” for the UFC if he did claim the flyweight title on December 7.
“Let’s be honest, it’s good business for the UFC if I win [because] I’m here to make it exciting, for people to have interest in the flyweight division and have a whole bunch of new matchups ready to have on future shows.”
“I hope one day Dana White will turn to the audience and say this kid is a special KO artist, a KO machine,” continued Asakura, with the sound of his knockout of Shooto Watanabe in 2021 still ringing true to those words.
His last fight came on New Year’s Eve 2023, a brutal second-round knockout of former Bellator champion Juan Archuleta.
UFC 310: Pantoja vs Asakura takes place on Saturday, December 7 – live from Las Vegas.
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