"People don’t realize” - Kai Asakura dismisses weight cut concerns ahead of UFC 310 as he returns to flyweight for the first time since 2017 

Kai Asakura will face Alexandre Pantoja in the main event of UFC 310 on Dec. 7 for the flyweight title in what will be his promotional debut. It will also be his first fight at 125 pounds since 2017, having competed mostly at bantamweight over the past seven years.

With some concerns over whether the title challenger will be defeated on the scales, Asakura shut down any of those worries during a recent interview with MMAJunkie.

Having never missed weight before, the former Rizin champion is more than confident that it will remain the case in what will likely be the biggest fight of his career to date.

During his interview with MMAJunkie, he said:

"A lot of people don't realize I actually fought at flyweight before. I am accustomed to fighting at that weight. With regards to my bantamweight fights, I wasn't cutting a lot of weight. I was cutting a lot less than everyone else was cutting. At flyweight I'm cutting [the same] amount of weight as everybody else would normally cut... Totally zero [reason to be concerned]."

Check out Kai Asakura's comments below (6:55):

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Alexandre Pantoja calls out critics of Kai Asakura receiving title shot in UFC debut

UFC 310 will be headlined by flyweight title fight between Alexandre Pantoja and debutant Kai Asakura. The former Rizin champion has been criticized for receiving a title shot in his promotional debut, but those critics have been targeted by Asakura's upcoming opponent.

Pantoja called out the hypocritical attitude of those critics, who simultaneously called for the UFC to do crossover fights with other promotions, but then talk down on the likes of Asakura being granted title fights in their debut.

During a recent interview with MMAJunie, the Brazilian champion said:

"I don't need to apologize for anyone in the division because everybody have a good fight to do it. Bring Kai Asakura, of course, that's the crossover. Yeah? That's why every hater you see talking about, 'UFC need to make a crossover, blah, blah, blah ...' And then, when UFC did that, the haters come back and say, 'Hey, Asakura don't deserve to fight for the belt.'"

Check out Alexandre Pantoja's comments about Kai Asakura below: