Amir Albazi remains undefeated in the UFC, narrowly defeats Kai Kara-France in UFC on ESPN 46 main event
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us tonight, June 3, 2023, for UFC on ESPN 46, having took place at the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada.
Headlining the event was a highly anticipated flyweight encounter between no. 3 ranked Kai Kara-France (24-11) and no. 7 ranked Amir Albazi (17-1).
Kara-France, following perhaps the most notable win streak of his career, had suffered his second defeat to current champion Brandon Moreno in his most recent outing back in July of last year. He went into that fight having won his last three-straight over the likes of Rogerio Bontorin (KO), former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt (TKO), and former ACB flyweight champion Askar Askarov (UD).
Albazi came to the UFC in July of 2020 and had since gone 4-0 with victories over Malcolm Gordon (triangle choke), Zhalgas Zhumagulov (UD), Francisco Figueiredo (rear naked choke), and Alessandro Costa (KO).
Continue reading to see how our epic flyweight main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: Amir Albazi def. Kai Kara-France via split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47)
Albazi makes it a point through the first five minutes to control the octagon, and he does a good job of doing that.
Kara-France is able to get back to the middle with some combinations, but round one was relatively uneventful.
Albazi continues to control the center of the octagon in the second. He lands a nice left hook, and a good overhand right not long afterward, and Kara-France’s leg kicks are adding up, but neither man has really established their dominance thus far through the first 10 minutes.
Albazi establishes dominance in the third round however, as he takes Kara-France down, eventually taking his back and nearly securing a rear naked choke finish. Kara-France is able to get out of it and ends up reversing Albazi, where he ends the round on top reigning down heavy punches and elbows.
Round four is very back-and-forth, close like the first and second.
Kara-France pulls it together to win the fifth and final round, out-striking Albazi with an urgency throughout.
It wasn’t the most eventful bout, but each man had success and did well nullifying the other. It was a close one that could’ve gone either way, and it was certainly Albazi’s toughest UFC fight to date.
Amir Albazi ends up with the victory, remaining undefeated inside the octagon at UFC on ESPN 46.
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