A short drive from one New Zealand icon, Kai Kara-France sits quietly counting down the days until he gets the chance to become another himself. Auckland’s legendary stadium Eden Park looms large over New Zealand sport and so too soon may the UFC flyweight fighter.
With a victory over Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 317 in Las Vegas this weekend, Kara-France would become his country’s second UFC champion alongside Israel Adesanya, but first New Zealand-born and first of Maori heritage.
His challenge is a tough one: dethrone the UFC flyweight champion, a fighter he has already shared the Octagon with some nine years ago. A lot has changed since the duo first did battle on “The Ultimate Fighter: Season 24” with Kara-France having ridden the highs and lows of mixed martial arts along the way.
But its those decisions, those challenges and adventures, including once fighting on a cruise ship, that have steeled Kara-France for the opportunity in front of him and the chance to etch his name into New Zealand sporting folklore.
“There [are] so many things that [happen], you just gotta keep picking yourself up,” Kara-France tells ESPN at Auckland’s Full Time Sports Bar, as he sits beside a window that is consumed almost entirely by Eden Park.
“And my career hasn’t been this undefeated record and gone to a world title straight away. I really had to fight for this.”
Kara-France’s journey has taken him from Auckland to Thailand, right across Asia and Oceania, to “The Ultimate Fighter” and then the UFC, with heartbreaking defeats and stunning KO’s coming in almost equal measure along the way.
Before all that, there was also a tough experience with bullying as a kid, including having his head stuffed down a toilet, which he says put him on the path to combat sports.
But first, the cruise ship fight. What? When? Why? How?
“So it was the first international fight ever on a cruise ship,” Kara-France explains with a smile.
“It wasn’t moving, so you don’t have to worry about getting boat sick and falling off. But the cruise ship came from Malaysia to Phuket overnight. And then the fights were in Phuket, Thailand. So all my teammates got to come on the cruise ship and watch the fight. I was fighting a Filipino fighter and it was funny because all the workers on the cruise ship were Filipino.
“So they all came out of the kitchen and came out when we were fighting. And it felt like it was his hometown fight, like I was fighting Manny Pacquiao. But I ended up winning it, I think it was less than 30 seconds to fight, and then we got to party on the boat for two days after.
“So a pretty cool experience. I knew I had a fight, like I was there for business and then I could have a holiday after. But to say you fought on a cruise ship on the top deck, next to the pool; a pretty cool bucket list to tick off.”
Before setting sail aboard the cruise ship, Kara-France began his MMA career at home in Auckland. He produced what has become his trademark “Don’t Blink” knockouts in his first fight but soon realized that to really commit to his career he would have to head offshore.
That was the catalyst for his move to Thailand; just a teenager whose eyes were as wide as the MMA world he wanted to conquer, but a far cry from his understanding of it.
“It was definitely hard moving overseas, I didn’t know anyone, first time being in a new country by myself,” Kara-France reflected. “But that’s the beautiful thing about the martial arts community, everyone’s there to get better and everyone’s there to learn.
“So I knew I’d make friends, and I guess being quite shy and timid growing up, it forced me to be able to get out of my shell. And life hack for the younger generation, moving overseas you gain so much experience because you have to meet new people, you have to get out of your shell, get out of your comfort zone.”
Kara-France’s decision to leave home paid immediate dividends as he wound up winning a scholarship to continue his martial arts education at the famed Tiger Muai Thai.
Short on money, he called on family — he says his siblings and parents have been an unwavering source of support — to help from back home, before he eventually found his groove, strung together a five-fight win streak and first put his name on the UFC’s radar.
“That’s when the UFC called me and said, ‘We’d love for you to be part of The Ultimate Fighter season 24, you just have to be a champion.’ And I’d just won a belt in Perth, Australia, Bragging Rights 7: Resurrection, which was my ticket to get on the show. So it was pretty cool to be a part of history on The Ultimate Fighter.”
Kara-France’s TUF appearance eventually ended with a loss to Pantoja by decision and while it was anything but a backward step, he had to go away, keep grafting and bide his time for a shot at the UFC proper.
Enter City Kickboxing.
“That first day I walked into CKB [City Kickboxing], I remember Eugene [Bareman] just saying, how are we going to get back to the UFC? I’d just come off a loss, I fought in Japan [in December 2016], it didn’t go my way, that’s why I had to come back to New Zealand, just to have a bit of a reset,” Kara-France tells ESPN.
“And I sat down with Euge, and he just said, the way we get back to the UFC is just turn up to training, and the rest will take care of itself. And I just trusted in his words and his guidance, and I wouldn’t be here today in the UFC and doing so well without him in my corner.
“He’s really so selfless, but what he does and why he’s one of the best is he can cater towards all different personalities. So you can have your big personalities like Izzy [Adesanya], or like Dan [Hooker]; or like me, who wasn’t as outspoken, but he can get the best out of us. And that’s what he’s really good at.”
Bareman recalls a quiet, shy kid, who eight years on continues let his fighting do the talking.
“Not that he doesn’t have these traits now, but he was quiet and unassuming and just went about his work. And he was a terrific trainer, he trained really hard and dedicated himself,” Bareman tells ESPN.
2:47
‘I wanted to walk the journey with them’ | Kara-France’s Maori Journey)
UFC Flyweight Kai Kara-France is embracing his culture and history as he prepares to take on Alexandre Pantoja for the UFC Flyweight Championship.
“And I feel like he’s still that same kind of character, quietly unassuming, hardworking, just gets the work done. Not the loudest person in the room, but definitely one of the hardest workers in the room.”
Saturday night’s [Sunday afternoon NZT, AEST] fight will be the second time Kara-France competes for the UFC flyweight title, the 32-year-old having already lost an interim division decider to Brandon Moreno in 2022.
The Kiwi’s UFC record sits at 8-4, with two of those defeats coming in three of his most recent fights, while ahead of his show-stopping KO of Australian Steve Erceg in August last year, Kara-France had spent 14 months sidelined by ongoing concussion issues.
“Kai’s journey’s has definitely had its bumps, but what I like about Kai is he’s, after each one of those hurdles, he’s come back a better fighter,” Bareman says of his charge. “We’ve really attacked some of the fights that he’s lost and picked up a lot of stuff that we need to work on and from those losses to his next fights, you can kind of see a bit of a progression in some areas that he really worked on, but he was a bit deficient in those fights.
“I like the way he comes back from his losses, and that’s part of the reason why he’s able to get back to this position right now, after already having an unsuccessful attempt at this title.”
Outside of the Octagon, away from the hours spent sweating it out on the mats of City Kickboxing, Kara-France is on a voyage of ongoing discovery and enrichment in his Maori heritage.
His wife, Chardae, is a fluent speaker of Te Reo Maori, a skill he too wants to master so that he can help pass the language along to the next generation, including the couple’s two boys.
A quick glance at the Kiwi’s Instagram reveals his recent involvement in a kapa haka group, which was inside the cage at City Kickboxing; the intense haka performance something Kara-France will channel when he faces Pantoja this weekend.
So what of the Brazilian champion? What does he remember from their first fight?
“He won by decision. It was only a two-round fight. It’s not on our record,” Kara-France recalls.
“I remember neutralising his ground game. I remember being scrambly where he couldn’t really stay on me when he was on my back. And then on the feet, it was pretty even.
“He just did a bit more to get the nod from the judges. It was nine years ago, so a lot’s happened since then. Pantoja’s obviously done really well in his career, becoming a world champion. And one of his biggest strengths is he’s so tough. He’s so resilient. He can just find a way to win.
“So I love that he’s one of the best champs to do it in the flyweight division and here I get an opportunity to be the first one to knock him out.”
As the sun fades from the Auckland sky and the air turns that little bit icier, Eden Park starts to slide into the distance. For an All Blacks game, the stadium, where the team hasn’t tasted defeat since 1994, lights up the night as the rugby gods within it destroy whichever hapless opposition is unlucky enough to be in town that day.
There is not the same inevitability around Kara-France’s own chances in Las Vegas this weekend, far from it in fact, but victory will put his name in lights up and down the land of the Long White Cloud.
“I just feel through all my experiences that I’m just ready to tick this off my life bucket list,” he tells ESPN. “I’m big on goals, daily goals, weekly, monthly. And for 15 years, I’ve had to keep writing, become a UFC flyweight world champion. And I haven’t ticked that off yet.
“So that’s fueling me to know that I’ve done all the work at training leading into this. I’ve seen it all. I felt it all. Nothing can hurt me because I’ve gone through it and I’ve gained that experience. And when I step in there this time, I’ve just got to go after it; no self-doubt, no hesitation.
“Just go in there, be very intentional and go for the finish. So I’m excited, I’m excited because I’m ready for it.”
