Amir Albazi remained undefeated in the octagon in his first UFC headliner with a split decision victory over former interim title challenger Kai Kara-France. Photo: photosport
UFC flyweight Kai Kara-France lost a controversial split decision against Amir Albazi in their headline fight in Las Vegas.
Kara-France lost the five round fight with two judges scoring it 48-47 for Alabazi while one had it 48-47 for the New Zealander.
After looking largely dominant on the feet and outstriking his opponent 89 significant strikes to 51 and attempting more than doouble with 320 comapred to Albazi's 144, Kara-France was naturally questioning the decision.
"The whole world knows who won but regardless we keep our head high and we keep moving forward. Appreciate all the love and support from everyone. Time for family and then we get back to work," he tweeted.
Kara France then joked "who's worse UFC judges or NRL Refs?"
Speaking to ESPN MMA the 31-year-old said that this is a game of inches.
"This a sport at the highest level, it's subjective, it's what the judges are scoring if they're scoring damage, scoring control, aggression, all of these."
The City Kickboxing product said he believed he had done enough as Bruce Buffer was announcing the result.
"I was feeling confident but hats off to Amir. I'm not gonna be one to dwell on it. Congrats to him for winning, bringing the fight to me and putting on show. It's awesome flyweights to be in this main event. So I can't really be too down on the result, I just got to go again that's it."
Kara-France said he does wish he could have found the finish.
"More controlling, capitalising on moments where I could have put more pressure on him, Amir was quite good at ducking and he showed he's well rounded. It's a fun matchup when guys neutralize the ground and you can keep it standing and give people what they want to see."
The former title challenger said he is far from done.
"I'll go back to my gym, sit down with my coaches and regroup, this is not something that we haven't done before, come back from a loss and this is what builds character. This shows what you're really made of. when things don't work out, and then you rise above it."
With another baby due in August, he said he will go home and rebuild.
"Growing that Kara-France tribe, it's nice to have my loved ones to go home to and we go again. So thank you to all the support back home. I really felt it this week, and I know they will be proud of me."
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has called for the judges who scored against Kara-France to be fired.
Adesanya took to Twitter to question how many times incorrect judging decisions will rob athletes of their moments of glory and livelihood for their families.
"I tweeted that before even seeing the scorecards because I knew them two will f*** it up!! Mike Bell was the only judge to score this properly, the other two deff (sic) need to disappear."
He is calling for judges to be scrutinised for their decisions.
"Start interviewing the judges after fights. Hold them accountable for their work."
