Who is Kai Asakura? Learn all about the Japanese phenom who will fight for the flyweight title on his UFC debut in December

The signing of Kai Asakura to the UFC turned into a major headline in the MMA world. On June 8, during the RIZIN 47 broadcast, RIZIN president Nobuyuki Sakakibara announced that Asakura, the organization's bantamweight champion, would be leaving the Japanese promotion to pursue his UFC career.

Known for his knockout power and impressive fight IQ, UFC fans eagerly awaited the Japanese fighter's promotional debut. It later came to light that Asakura was set to face UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 310, which is scheduled for Dec. 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

With the flyweight title on the line, Asakura will attempt at making history by becoming a champion in his very first UFC bout and also the first Japanese champion of the organization. The fight was originall scheduled to serve as the co-main event. However, it was promoted to the main event slot after welterweight champion Belal Muhammad was forced to pull out of his main event clash against Shavkat Rakhmonov.

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Everything you need to know about Kai Asakura

Kai Asakura was born on Oct. 31, 1993, in Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan. In his early years, driven by his passion for martial arts, he trained in karate and sumo. As a child, he and his older brother Mikuru Asakura, also a professional MMA fighter, frequently found themselves in street fights. Their rough upbringing led them to the world of MMA, as their mother encouraged them to channel their aggression into boxing.

Asakura began his formal mixed martial arts training in high school when Mikuru introduced him to the Zen Dokai Toyohashi Dojo. There, he fell in love with MMA and started taking his training seriously. He competed in amateur MMA under the Rings: The Outsider banner, a promotion aimed at rehabilitating troubled youths.

Asakura made his professional MMA debut in 2012 and quickly climbed the ranks in Japan. He fought for promotions like DEEP and Fighting Network Rings before joining RIZIN in 2017. Asakura’s debut at RIZIN Fighting World Grand Prix 2017 was an immediate success, as he knocked out Kizaemon Saiga in the second round.

Asakura's career-defining moment came at RIZIN 18 in 2019 when he knocked out then-bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi in the first round. This stunning upset sent shockwaves through the MMA world and solidified his place as one of Japan’s premier fighters. Though he lost the rematch to Horiguchi, Asakura continued to excel, capturing the RIZIN bantamweight championship twice and compiling an impressive list of victories.

Asakura wields a solid record of 21 wins and four losses, with an impressive 76% finish rate. He has defeated notable fighters like Kyoji Horiguchi and Juan Archuleta, while also holding a victory over UFC flyweight title contender Manel Kape.

According to Taology's database, Asakura is the No.42-ranked bantamweight fighter in the worldwide MMA rankings. The title fight against Alexandre Pantoja will mark his first flyweight appearance since June 2017, when he lost to Moon Jae-hoon by a third-round KO.

Although he is making his UFC debut in the flyweight division, his physical attributes—5'8" tall and 69" reach—match those of an average-sized UFC bantamweight.

Asakura has also built a massive following on YouTube. His channel, KAI Channel has over 1.36 million subscribers and more than 615 million views. He shares his training routines, lifestyle content, and vlogs on the channel and has emerged as one of the most prominent names to emerge from the modern MMA landscape in Asia.

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Kai Asakura vs. Alexandre Pantoja is one of the most intriguing stylistic matchups in the lower weight classes

While many have raised questions over the validity of Kai Asakura getting a title shot in his UFC debut, it appears to be an interesting srtylistic matchup.

While Asakura is a decorated knockout artist with several highlight reel finishes under the belt, Pantoja has shown an incredible chin in his UFC career so far. Apart from former two-time champion Deiveson Figueiredo, none of his opponents have been able to knock him down in the UFC.

On the grappling front, Pantoja averages 2.61 takedowns attempted per 15 minutes and has relied on his grappling to get an edge over many of his opponents. Meanwhile, Asakura has shown respectable takedown defense against grapplers. At the time of this writing, Pantoja is a -270 favorite while Asakura is a +220 underdog.