UFC Vegas 74: Kai Kara-France using experience of his title-winning teammates to stay focused
The value of having veteran teammates who have experienced all the highs and lows one could imagine in a sport has never been more apparent in the case of the UFC's Kai Kara-France.
A fight is one of the most unpredictable events in sports. Former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver often spoke of his love for great pitching and three-run homers as the key to a winning team. A three-run homer in baseball can change the course of a game with one swing.
One punch, or kick, or elbow, or knee — the MMA equivalent of a three-run homer — can change the course of a career.
One loss should never define a fighter, but far too often, the public and even the fighter themselves allows that to happen.
But UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya showed the folly of that line of thinking at UFC 287 on April 8 in Miami, Florida. Adesanya was the challenger that night and had been previously knocked out twice by Alex Pereira. Adesanya refused to let those defeats define him and he scored the last measure of revenge when he regained his title by knocking out Pereira in the second round.
There to watch it all, from the start of camp to the lengthy celebratory period that followed, was Kara-France.
Kara-France meets Amir Albazi on Saturday at Apex in the main event of UFC Vegas 74 in Las Vegas, his first bout since losing to flyweight champion Brandon Moreno by third-round TKO on July 30 in Dallas, Texas.
"That last one we had, you could say I was winning until I wasn't," Kara-France told Yahoo Sports. "Look, Brandon is a great fighter and we're all fighting the best fighters in the world here. He's a great champion. He just won again over Figgy [ex-champion Deiveson Figueiredo] and he put him away pretty easily. So it shows that I'm right there."
The reality that fighters face every time they walk into the ring or the cage is that it could end in an instant. In the old days, when championship boxing matches were still scheduled for 15 rounds, ring announcers would say they were scheduled "for 15 rounds, or less." A baseball game is always nine innings. Football and basketball are four quarters and hockey is three periods.
In the fight game, though, a match can end in a split-second and change the course of history far quicker than it does for Aaron Judge to deposit a hanging curve into the bleachers at Yankee Stadium.
Kara-France was bitterly disappointed to lose to Moreno, but he saw the way Adesanya had handled losses to Pereira and Jan Błachowicz and he knew that if he wanted to get back on top, he'd have to do the same.
The value of veteran, experienced teammates is why you hear Kara-France saying he still believes he's the world's best flyweight. He knows he'll have to prove that in the Octagon, but Adesanya has shown him it can be done despite the odds and despite the many doubters who love nothing more than to kick someone when they're down.
"Look at who I train with day in and day out: Izzy, Alex [Volkanovski], Dan [Hooker], guys who have been in this game a long time," he said. "Their presence is a constant reminder that I have to keep striving and stick to my business and never lose sight of the goal. I've never lost sight of that. The goal has always been a world champion and it remains the goal and I plan on reaching it. I'm still young in this game. I just turned 30 but I've got a ton of experience and I'm way wiser.
"What the experience has taught me is that you have to treat this fight game with the utmost respect and realize that anything can happen at any point. It's OK to be disappointed [after a loss], but you have to pick up the pieces and keep going because that's just why it's so difficult to win [a championship] at this level."
He's prepared for whatever Albazi brings and expects Albazi to push the pace. He went out of his way to express his respect for Albazi's skills but said because he respects him so much, he's made it a point to be ready for everything Albazi does.
That's more of that experience coming through.
