RIZIN president Nobuyuki Sakakibara offers words of support to Kai Asakura as he remains confident the Japanese will "fulfill the promise he made"

While Kai Asakura's efforts to capture UFC championship gold ended in failure at UFC 310, RIZIN president Nobuyuki Sakakibara believes it is only a matter of time. Having seen Asakura fight to great success in his promotion, Sakakibara has as good a grasp on the Japanese star's skills as anyone.

He took to Instagram to share a collage of pictures from UFC 310, including snaps of the main event and a picture of himself sitting cageside next to UFC CEO Dana White. The post also featured a heartfelt statement that was nothing but complimentary to Asakura.

"Kai was unable to fulfill his promise this time, but I hope he will fulfill the promise he made to us and the RIZIN fans to "become UFC champion and return to Japan!" We hope he will hold his head up high and move forward immediately. We will continue to support Kai as always!"

Asakura came into UFC 310 with a tremendous amount of hype and the expectation of the entire Japanese nation. He was put in the extraordinarily rare position of fighting for a UFC title on his promotional debut when he took on reigning flyweight kingpin Alexandre Pantoja.

Despite showing flashes of brilliance, including nearly timing a Pantoja level change with his patented flying knees, Asakura succumbed to the Brazilian phenom's pressure, aggression and superior grappling. The fight lasted two rounds, with Pantoja submitting him with a rear-naked choke.

Asakura actually defended the choke well, but Pantoja readjusted his grip to secure the finish, choking him unconscious before cutting a promo and challenging arguable MMA GOAT Demetrious Johnson to return and face him.

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Kai Asakura is no stranger to UFC-level competition

Despite just fighting under the UFC banner for the first time this past Saturday, Kai Asakura has actually fought high-level fighters from the promotion in the past. Unfortunately, his record against them has been less than stellar. He twice faced former UFC flyweight title challenger Kyoji Horiguchi, with their series being 1-1.

Check out Kai Asakura vs. Manel Kape:

He also faced controversial UFC flyweight standout Manel Kape, beating him via split-decision when both men were still making the climb in RIZIN.