Askar Askarov thinks Kai Kara-France should get through him before thinking of a title shot.
Kara-France (23-9 MMA, 6-2 UFC) knocked out former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt at UFC 269 this past Saturday and thinks his marquee win was enough for him to leapfrog the other contenders.
But sitting at the No. 2 spot in the UFC flyweight rankings is Askarov (14-0-1 MMA, 3-0-1 UFC), who’s unbeaten in his professional MMA career. The 29-year-old is coming off back-to-back wins over Alexandre Pantoja and former title challenger Joseph Benavidez and battled current UFC flyweight champ Brandon Moreno (19-5-2 MMA, 7-2-2 UFC) to a split draw in his promotional debut.
When making the callout, Askarov took a little dig at Kara-France’s teammate Dan Hooker for his first-round submission loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 267.
@kaikarafrance I want to give you a chance to fight contender fight I am number 2 you are number 6 let’s see if anybody from your country can beat anyone from Dagestan we all know what happened last time
— Askar Askarov (@askar_mma) December 15, 2021
@kaikarafrance I want to give you a chance to fight contender fight I am number 2 you are number 6 let’s see if anybody from your country can beat anyone from Dagestan we all know what happened last time.
Following Moreno’s title-winning performance of Deiveson Figueiredo, Askarov sent the champion a message, claiming there was unfinished business. But now that Moreno is set to defend his belt in a trilogy at UFC 270 on Jan. 22, Askarov has turned his attention to Kara-France.
Though Kara-France didn’t directly respond to Askarov, he laughed at a fan’s comment, which criticized Askarov for coming in a pound over the flyweight limit in his past fight against Benavidez.
— Kai Kara France (@kaikarafrance) December 15, 2021
After going the distance in his first four UFC wins, Kara-France finally started living up to his “Don’t Blink” nickname, scoring two straight knockouts of Rogerio Bontorin and most recently Garbrandt.
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