UFC 310 sees a new Main Event as Alexandre Pantoja defends his Flyweight title against debutant, Kai Asakura. It's not often that a UFC debutant gets a title shot in their first fight, but Asakura has earned that opportunity. Here is what you need to know about the Japanese fighter and how he made his way to the biggest MMA organisation.
Asakura made his MMA debut back in September 2012, claiming his first victory with an Armbar submission.
The Toyohashi-born fighter would not be active until May 2015 when he fought for the MMA promotion, Rings, as he secured five wins out of five fights, four ending by TKO and one by submission.
During his time at Rings, Asakura also fought with Road Fighting Championship (Road FC), as he earned two first-round stoppage wins, but suffered his first loss in his MMA career under the promotion as he was beaten by Jae Hoon Moon by third-round knockout.
After his first professional loss in MMA, the Aichi mixed martial artist joined the well-known Japanese MMA organisation, Rizin Fighting Federation (Rizin FF).
Asakura's first six fights for Rizin FF were very successful as he captured his first win on his debut against Kizaemon Saiga by second-round knockout.
This followed on with a split decision win over current UFC Flyweight, Manel Kape, and later on avenged his loss against Hoon Moon by unanimous decision.
It was all going well until he fought for the vacant Rizin Bantamweight title on New Years Eve in 2019 where he suffered a second-round TKO loss in a rematch with Kape.
Asakura earned title redemption in his next bout when he defeated Hiromasa Ougikubo by first-round TKO to become the Bantamweight Champion.
After another first-round TKO win at Rizin FF, the Japanese knockout artist made his first title defence against Kyoji Horiguchi, but it would not end well as he lost by first-round TKO.
After a three-fight winning streak in 2021, Asakura made it to the finals of the Bantamweight Grand Prix where he would aim to become champion once again, but he would suffer another rematch loss in his career, this time to Ougikubo by unanimous decision at Rizin FF 33.
The Toyohashi Bantamweight continued to battle for title glory as after not being involved in any action in 2022, Asakura returned in May 2023 with a third-round knockout win over Yuki Motoya at Rizin 42.
Asakura had another title opportunity at Rizin FF 45 as he faced Juan Archuleta who missed weight by five pounds, meaning that the Japanese fighter was the only one eligible to win the 135-pound belt. The 31-year-old became a two-time Rizin Bantamweight Champion as he defeated Archuleta by second-round TKO.
With such a prestigious win, Asakura looked to be in his prime as things would keep going upwards in his career, especially on 8th June where he would sign with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), competing in the Flyweight division.
With 21 wins and four losses, Asakura would be looking for challenging competition and after no one wanted to take the fight with Pantoja for the UFC Flyweight title, the Aichi-mixed martial artist accepted the offer to battle The Cannibal in December for his long-awaited debut with the organisation.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Written by Charlie Oxtoby
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MMA Instagram: undisputed._.mma
Twitter: Charlie_Oxtoby1
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