Flyweight contender Kai Kara-France spoke with the press at the official UFC Vegas 74 media day ahead of his main event …
guy back after uh you know 11 months officially back getting ready for a main event I guess what’s uh what’s the emotions like for you right now is he ready for another big fight yeah uh it’s awesome to be back uh in Vegas and um it’s been a bit of a layoff but was out of my control uh a little back injury kind of kept me from I guess training and it was one thing that I neglected in my career just investing back into my body and and um you know Mobility stretching until it pretty much humbled me to like couldn’t do anything so I had to rest for about two two months and then could slowly build again so great thing about um being where I met in my career I could kind of give a time frame of when I wanted a fight and uh it all came about perfectly so I’m glad to be here you know it’s been a great Camp 12 weeks we’ve built um been building for this date so yeah I’m ready to get in there and um remind everyone why I’m the best flower in the world I love it uh I know heartbreaking to not be in that last competition but it sounds you said you couldn’t do anything so it was an easy decision to make even though I know you wanted to fight was it easy to say I just absolutely can’t or did people have to talk you out of it no no like I couldn’t get out of bed I could have bend over uh I couldn’t tie my shoe so how am I going to get ready for a a fight and and give the fans what they want to see and and uh it was awesome to be in Perth uh in Australia as a guest fighter and seeing all the fans and seeing how excited they were to have UFC events back in outside of the world so um they’re coming back in September so I’m not looking past obviously this weekend but it’s great that the UFC are coming back to that side of the world um so you know obviously after a loss you want to get back in there and get rid of that feeling right and move past it so has that last lingered with you over that time or have you had or have you been able to process it learn the lessons and move past what’s it been like for you yeah it’s a lot of positives that we could take away from that last fight where it just showed we’re right there of the best guys um you know if we went back that night and um things went a bit differently I could be here for about now it’s just what happens at the the highest level of sport that’s just how it is as a game of inches so um you know we’ve taken away positives we’ve worked on stuff that we need to um and I left that in the cage I didn’t take it with me uh I’ve been a person to just go again uh like that’s my whole career I just keep turning up for myself and we keep building and um progression so you know I’ve taken losses uh before and I know how to build myself back up so I’m looking forward to um I guess reminding everyone and and um showing what why I deserve to have the next or have another title shot it sounds like you’re thinking more about you know where when gets you and you know where you are I mean so I just wonder what the matchup was you know they offer Amir who’s kind of new name to the rankings you know maybe not as much hype or whatever I mean what was your thoughts when that was the match that those presented yeah I just told Mick it was actually in Perth when I saw him I said uh I want to get a fight booked and he said well I’ll get a few names going and uh we’ll see who’s available so uh there’s a few things that what kind of uh factors but Amir was the guy that was closest to my ranking and the available so you know these contenders that are on win streaks momentum hype they want to take my spot on number three and I welcome it I want I want to fight the best guys so um yeah he’s a great fighter you know he’s a great Grappler great wrestler uh got momentum but I’m here to take all that I’m here to show them that there’s levels to listen and that’s what I’m going to be doing on Saturday we see a lot of times guys that are in your position they’ll even maybe coming off the last like ah you know top five I don’t know if I’m gonna go that far where it’s down I mean was there any part of that and you it was like well that guy really hasn’t earned his way to me yet like uh I’m not gonna Overlook anyone in a fight’s a fight and I gotta respect the sport and I’m just here to compete I’m here to compete against the best and um it just happened to work out that the main event for this fight fell through and then mix it do you want it and I said of course I’m here to um obviously make more money and and uh more eyes on us so it’s great that the FlyAway division are having a a main event slot because you know it’s one of the most exciting divisions in this in the UFC and and it’s awesome that the UFC trusts me to to be able to deliver they know that I come for finishes I come for Knockouts and I’m always an exciting fight so it’s nice that uh you know the ufcc that and uh I get to go do that Saturday that’s last thing for me you know Amir was in here earlier and he said he is looking at this as a number one Contender fight for himself do you feel the same way I know you said you’re right there and you know you want to earn back do you think this enough alone will be able enough to get you a title shot uh all I can do is go out there and show show my words show what I’m uh capable of and you know I’m not here to rush back into a title fight I’m just here to show everyone why I deserve it so um Saturday night me and Amir get to square off I get to challenge myself against you know a a challenger that’s got momentum and that will be uh just that will put me where I need to be so that’s what my all I’m focused on I’m not going to overlook anyone I’ve I’ve had opponents that overlooked me because I didn’t think I was worthy enough but I gotta respect uh Amir respect the sport and I know that a fight’s a fight so he’ll realize that when I land my first right hand and um yeah it’s going to be a bad night okay um who are you taking Brandon Marina or uh Alexander pantosia I’ve been asked this a few times today um it’s a great fight it’s a it’s a fight that’s got a lot of history you know of pantosia winning twice against Moreno I feel like Moreno is a different fighter since they last fought and I feel like he has another level of confidence since being a champion so I feel like that might be a factor I feel like the the aggression and the pace and the pressure that pantosia puts on Moreno I feel like he’ll deal with it but um regardless who I think is going to win I think it’s going to be a great fight and um great for the division uh I know you spoke about this with submission radio but for the benefit of us in the room how inspirational was Israel’s win over Alex Pereira uh it’s just shocking like how it happened the backstory everything about it but the way he did it it was like he knew exactly what was going to happen and I always had confidence in Lizzy but yeah just just to see him do it like he did um I’ve said it before and it’s it’s definitely one of the biggest sporting moments in our generation uh not even just for New Zealand but in the world just just everything that was involved so I take a lot away from that because you know a guy that has lost it three times and still had the confidence and the self-belief that he can still get it done just shows me that I’m still right there I just never lose hope of what the goal is and there has to be a world champion so uh yeah it’s massive we sure Alex volkanovsky’s reaction to it he was screaming and shouting at the TV was yours pretty similar definitely I had the whole uh or a few of the teammates at my house and I think we’ve got noise control called because we were shouting and screaming and losing our minds just just and so so happy for him to be able to do that and how much pressure was on him it was like him being free in there because it’s already happened before he already lost he already got you know knocked out um so what’s the worst that could happen so to see him do it like that and and um yeah just to see you I’m so happy it was awesome see hey guy just one over here uh you had posted about it on social media as well you were signing some posters and you said you know this is the first of many to come what was that like to finally see your face you know on a main event poster and be able to sign it and be like man I’m you know I’m really getting this Main Event I’m doing this for the first time right yeah it’s awesome like it’s it’s pretty um like humbling knowing the journey that I’ve come from to now be here in Vegas and uh to represent my country you know it’s it’s little moments like that you you have to really take it for what it is and it just uh lets me know I’m exactly where I need to be um so yeah like being away from from fighting for a little while I was I was able to document uh doco filmed in New Zealand and was on a mainstream platform back home and it documented my journey from when I first started to to now how I get ready for a world title fight so it was it was cool to get a new audience involved um supporting me that don’t necessarily watch fighting and um just to have my like family involved my wife my mum and dad my brother my coaches my teammates talk about me and where I’ve come from uh it’s just yeah full circle because you know there’s only one percent of people especially from New Zealand that get to do this so I’m grateful that I I keep turning up for myself and look where we are now headlining a card in Vegas and um I get to get my uh title title uh contention back on track awesome cheers guys thank you foreign