Kai Kara-France hopes a win over Askar Askarov at UFC on ESPN 33 gets him next title shot

COLUMBUS, Ohio – After the biggest win of his career over a former UFC bantamweight champion, Kai Kara-France is hoping to add to his streak Saturday – and put himself in position for a title shot.

Kara-France gave former 135-pound champion Cody Garbrandt a rude welcome to flyweight this past December with a first-round knockout. It was his second straight win and earned him his third straight post-fight bonus award.

Saturday at UFC on ESPN 33 in Columbus, Ohio, Kara-France (23-9 MMA, 6-2 UFC) takes on Askar Askarov (14-0-1 MMA, 3-0-1 UFC) in what should prove to be a key fight for the UFC’s flyweight title picture. Current champion Deiveson Figueiredo is expected to rematch former champ Brandon Moreno later this year in what will be their unprecedented fourth straight title fight.

But Kara-France sure would like a crack at the winner if he upsets Askarov.

“I didn’t want to wait around for a title fight and wait and hope for things to happen and things to align,” Kara-France told MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s media day for UFC on ESPN 33. “I just wanted to get back in there and show why I deserve to be the next guy. Taking out one of the toughest guys in that division will put me in position where I won’t be overlooked.”

He won’t have an easy task with Askarov, who comes into the fight unbeaten. A split draw with Moreno in 2019, before Moreno won the title, is the only blemish on his record. That fight came in Askarov’s UFC debut and in Moreno’s home country of Mexico.

Askarov is as much as a 4-1 favorite in the fight, but Kara-France thinks he might have a handle on how things will play out.

“Such a tough opponent in front of me, but I welcome it,” he said. “I want the best version of Askar Askarov and I want him to strike with me. I want him to try to get me down. I want him to try to hold me down. And when I neutralize that and get back to my feet and put my hands on him, find the targets and eventually find my shot, there’s not many guys in front of me after that.”

And if things go his way and he’s aligned for a crack at the flyweight belt, Kara-France can see no reason to not bring a title fight to his home country of New Zealand now that the world is slowly starting to open back up.

“I feel like it’s time for the UFC to come back to New Zealand and put on a show for us,” he said. “We’ve really missed it the last two years, and having so many elite fighters coming out of our country, it would be awesome to bring it back and showcase all this amazing talent we have back home. (I’m) not looking past Askar Askarov, but that would be the dream: bring a title shot back to New Zealand.”