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#3 Kai Kara-France vs. Mark De La Rosa
It’s quite rare to see a Flyweight fight make a UFC main card these days, but it’s also a breath of fresh air if the promotion really are looking to push their smallest male division again – the recent fight between Deiveson Figueiredo and Alexandre Pantoja, for example, was fantastic and was a great advert for what the 125lbers can do given the stage.
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Can Kara-France and De La Rosa deliver a similar amount of action? It’s an interesting question. De La Rosa is currently 2-2 in the UFC while Kara-France is 2-0, but it’s safe to say that in the form of former title challenger Tim Elliott, who beat him via anaconda choke in 2017, De La Rosa has faced the stiffer competition.
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Hailing from New Zealand, Kara-France is if nothing else an all-action fighter. He doesn’t have the best record – 19-7 with some losses to a lot of unheralded opponents – but he also hasn’t lost since 2016, which has to mean something. Essentially, his biggest strength is his sheer aggression. He’s not the best striker, nor the best grappler, but he can compete decently in both areas and he literally never stops coming forward, making him a difficult, wilting foe.
De La Rosa meanwhile seems to be more of a grappler – he tapped out Elias Garcia impressively in 2018 and it was his takedowns that largely squeaked him a decision against Joby Sanchez, but it was also notable that he was being outstruck by Sanchez, and more worryingly when he faced Alex Perez, his bottom game was massively lacking and he was almost pounded out on numerous occasions.
Kara-France isn’t a polished fighter yet and I think if the UFC were to put him in with a Formiga, Figueiredo or Pantoja right now he’d likely be destroyed, but from the evidence I’ve seen I think he’s on a level slightly above that of De La Rosa so I’ll happily take him to win by decision.
The Pick: Kara-France via unanimous decision
