Kai Kara-France says everything felt okay while battling Alexandre Pantoja on the ground at UFC 317 — until it didn’t.
Before Ilia Topuria knocked out Charles Oliveira to become a two-division kingpin at UFC 317, Pantoja got things done inside the distance himself to exit the cage with gold in his possession.
In the co-main event, Pantoja submitted Kara-France in round three, becoming the longest-reigning active male UFC champion in the process.
While celebrations will be ongoing for ‘The Cannibal’ and his team, it’ll be the opposite for Kara-France, who fell short of a UFC title for the second time in his career and likely faces a long road back to another opportunity.
Kai Kara-France admits he didn’t show enough ‘urgency’ on the ground at UFC 317
The Kiwi flyweight first had his title ambitions dented at UFC 277 in the summer of 2022. Kara-France was stopped by Brandon Moreno in their battle for the interim championship.
Having fallen to a similar fate three years later, an understandably disappointed Kara-France reflected on the setback during an interview with Sky Sport NZ backstage at T-Mobile Arena.
“Hats off to Pantoja. He’s the champ for a reason,” Kara-France said. “He’s just tough. Cracked him a few times and he just keeps coming forward.
“I thought I was sweet until it got deeper and deeper. Before you know it…I was just stuck. That’s his world on the ground, and it was just dangerous for me to (show) not enough urgency to get up.
“Just proud to represent the gym, our coaches and our team. Just want to say a big thanks for all the support back home,” Kara-France added. “It’s just tough because I’ve been here before…it is harder to get up every time when you put so much into this.
“That’s the fight game, and I’m going to hold my head up high…live to fight another day.”
Alexandre Pantoja’s next challenger is already decided
While Kara-France licks his wounds and assesses his next step, Pantoja already has a fresh challenge in his sights.
Moments after ‘The Cannibal’ recorded his fourth successful defense and made history as the winningest flyweight in UFC history, the champ faced off with Joshua Van.
Van beat Brandon Royval in a war earlier in the night, landing a late knockdown to put an exclamation point on his short-notice victory over the top-ranked contender.
As a result, the rising Burmese flyweight has seemingly jumped the queue and earned a title shot off the back of his two victories at back-to-back June pay-per-views.