The UFC has finalized a fun matchup in the flyweight division. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto was the first to report last night that the promotion had booked the flyweight bout between former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt (12-4) and Kai Kara-France (22-9, 1 NC).
The fight will take place at a UFC event that is scheduled to take place on December 11th. This will be Cody Garbrandt’s first official fight in the flyweight division after he’s teased the move down in weight for over a year.
He’s going to get an exciting challenge in his first fight. Eleventh ranked Kai Kara-France just looks like someone who is ready to make his way up the latter in the UFC‘s flyweight division.
Since making his debut with the UFC at the end of 2018, Kara-France has gone 5-2 with the promotion. One of those losses came against the current flyweight champion in Brandon Moreno.
The lone other loss came on Fight Island against Brandon Royval in a fight that was incredibly fun to watch. Kara-France last fought at UFC 259 when he knocked out Rogerio Bontorin in the first round.
UFC Flyweight Debut for No Love
Back at UFC 207 in 2016, Cody Garbrandt was on top of the world. He had defeated Dominick Cruz and became the bantamweight champion. Garbrandt was undefeated and looked like he was going to reign over the division for a long time.
However, injuries started hampering his career. Following the title win against Cruz, Garbrandt ended up suffering three consecutive knockout losses between 2017 and 2019. Two of which were in the first round.
The losing streak made you really wonder what the future held for Garbrandt. At UFC 250 last June, he returned against Raphael Assuncao. He looked like the old Cody Garbrandt and scored a highlight reel knockout in the second round.
After that win, Garbrandt accepted a UFC flyweight title fight and wanted to move down in weight. However, an injury and battle with COVID cancelled the fight. After that, he decided to stay at bantamweight a bit longer.
The former champion took on Rob Font back in May in a headliner. Font controlled the entire fight and the former UFC champion really couldn’t get anything going. After that loss, he decided to move to flyweight for the foreseeable future. Now, he has his first opponent and a lot to prove.