Kara-France joined the interview with Ariel Helwani from Tahiti as he took a well-earned break following his controversial decision loss to Amir Albazi last Saturday at UFC Vegas 74.
Kara-France said he had a strange feeling after the fight because he was at an afterparty where Shaquille O’Neal was on the turntables and felt he should be in a celebratory mode instead of disgruntled at the decision, which didn’t go his way on the night.
”It’s hard to see how the judges gave it to Amir [Albazi] when you look at it black and white on what the stats were and, you know, what he was trying to implement and what I was trying to neutralize and capitalize on moments but yeah I definitely thought I won and I feel like the world does. I haven’t met anyone yet or seen anyone yet that thought Amir won,” said Kara-France on The MMA Hour.
Showing optimism just two days removed from the fight was impressive, but that’s exactly what Kara-France displayed in his next comment as he elaborated on his feeling post-fight. He said that despite suffering defeat, he feels his stock has not depleted due to showing once again that he can compete at the sport’s highest level.
Switching the question back on to Ariel Helwani, the New Zealand native asked the host his thoughts on the fight and how he viewed it, to which Helwani said that on the first viewing, he thought Kara-France took every round bar the third. Even on the second viewing, he had Kara-France winning 3-2 at worst, taking the first, fourth, and fifth.
It wasn’t just losing the fight that Kara-France finds difficult to deal with. He claims to have missed out on $100,000 due to the decision; certainly no chump change. Correctly pointing out that he would now lose his #3 ranking spot in the division, Kara-Frace said that meant the road back for him to compete for the UFC Flyweight Championship just became a little longer. Not keen to dwell on the loss for too long, Kara-France is looking to fight again when the UFC returns to Sydney, Australia:
”September, the UFC is coming back to Sydney. I don’t really have any injuries or anything, so that’s probably the next date, the next fight that I would love to do, my side of the world.”
Referencing Kara-France’s earlier comments about missing out on $100,000 due to not winning, Helwani then voiced his displeasure, not for the first time, at the UFC’s pay structure which penalizes fighters financially if they don’t win. Helwani suggested this way of thinking is outdated as twenty years ago, the UFC was trying desperately to build its brand. Hence, the owners needed fighters to deliver highly entertaining spectacles, which incentivized fighters to finish the fight. Still, as it was now 2023 and the UFC fighters were top-level athletes in a vast, global company, it was unfair to keep the model as it currently is.
”So you’re telling me because Sal D’Amato scored the fourth round for Amir Albazi, you [Kara-France] have a bank account that is minus $100,000. Because of that one reason, that’s it. You realize that, right? Isn’t that insane? That’s insane to me, because one guy scored the wrong round” – said Ariel Helwani, who then corrected himself by stating that it was, in fact, Chris Lee and not Sal D’Amato who awarded the fourth round to Amir Albazi.
Kara-France said that going forwards, he would aim to be more clinical so that he can finish the fight and not leave it to chance by going to a decision, as he doesn’t want to be in this position again and would be keen on fighting Tim Elliott next.
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