Kai Kara-France predicts "dog fight" against Brandon Moreno at UFC 277

Kai Kara-France will fight Brandon Moreno for the interim flyweight title at UFC 277 on July 30. According to the Kiwi fighter, he will make the contest a “dog fight.”

‘Don’t Blink’ was present at a press conference held in Sydney, Australia, alongside UFC titleholders Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski. The three addressed the media and answered questions concerning their upcoming fights at UFC 276 and 277.

Kara-France was asked about being an underdog in his interim flyweight title fight against Brandon Moreno. The Kiwi fighter replied that it was nothing new to him, as people have doubted him since his high school days:

“Man, it’s kinda triggering. It brings me back to when I was in high school, getting bullied for my height. I guess getting overlooked, underestimated. But man, this kid has a lot of fight in him. And that’s what Moreno will be seeing. It’s a dog fight and I’m gonna just make it that… I don’t care. If you doubt me, it fuels me. It fuels me even more.”

The interim flyweight title will be presented due to Deiveson Figueiredo's hiatus caused by a hand injury. The Brazilian was expected to defend his title during the summer but needs more time to rehabilitate. His former opponent Moreno will fight Kai Kara-France to determine an interim titleholder.

It will be the fourth crack at the gold for ‘The Assasin Baby’ as the Mexican fighter fought Figueiredo on three different occasions. Their first fight at UFC 256 ended with a draw that saw ‘Deus de Guerra’ retain his belt. The rematch took place at UFC 263, with Moreno submitting the Brazilian. The third and last outing was featured on UFC 270 and saw Figueiredo win via unanimous decision.

Watch the full press conference below:

---

Brandon Moreno threats Kai Kara-France as a real problem

It looks like Kara-France's next opponent will not underestimate him. Brandon Moreno stated in a recent interview that he would not repeat the same mistake as some of the Kiwi's former foes.

During an interview with MMA Junkie's Spanish-language podcast Hablemos MMA, Moreno noted that Kara-France’s previous opponents paid the price for overlooking him. The Mexican used both Cody Garbrandt and Askar Askarov as examples and said:

“Kai is a real problem. I think one of the things that happened with his previous opponents is that they didn’t give him his respect. Both Cody Garbrandt and Askar Askarov, I think they saw themselves already past him. "[Translation via MMA Junie]

Watch Brandon Moreno talk about Kai Kara-France in the video below:

This will be the second time the two fighters clash. Moreno defeated Kara-France by unanimous decision at UFC 245. ‘Don’t Blink’ later fought and defeated Garbrandt and Askarov at UFC 269 and UFC at ESPN: Blaydes vs. Daukaus. The former bantamweight champion was defeated by TKO, and the Russian fighter lost via unanimous decision.