Kai Asakura, Reportedly “Bigger Than 95% of the UFC’s Roster”, Has Already Suffered a Surprising Loss to a UFC Contender

After 12 years and 25 MMA fights, Japanese sensation Kai Asakura has joined Dana White‘s roster in the UFC. The 30-year-old fighter has fought in the top Japanese promotion, Rizin FF, where he was a champion, and South Korea’s Road FC, and now he has his sights set on stamping his mark inside the Octagon against the cream of the crop for MMA fighters. However, Asakura is familiar with one fighter on the current UFC roster.

Kai Asakura, a knockout artist with 13 career finishes, is nothing less than a big star in the land of the rising sun. Moreover, Asakura has been a bantamweight champion throughout his MMA career. But did you know that he once bit the dust when he fought a current UFC 125-pounder? Well, let’s look at that bit of his MMA record.

Which UFC fighter has defeated Kai Asakura?

Kai Asakura is a star because social media posts related to the former Rizin bantamweight champion always register millions of impressions. As far as his stardom is concerned, Kai Asakura seems like the real deal. An Instagram page dedicated to MMA claims, “This guy (statistically) is already bigger than 95% of the UFC’s roster, and that’s not an understatement,” which alights with his MMA record. But he’s not invincible.

Kai Asakura losing to a current UFC fighter should not come as a big surprise. Elite fighters often travel the same roads to get to the highest level, and the fighter who fought the 30-year-old Japanese star is another 30-year-old fighter—the Frenchman, Manel Kape. Yes. ‘Starboy’ has fought Asakura, not once, but twice, when he was a part of the Rizin FF’s roster back in 2018.

Kai Asakura first butted heads against Manel Kape at Rizin 10. It was a three-rounder, with 130 pounds (59 kg) as the weight limit. But guess what? The Japanese star came out on top with a split decision win, cementing his 10th professional win. A close loss always hurts, and Kape may have felt the same because he came back with a bang in the rematch.

10 events later, Rizin 20, the place of the rematch between Kai Asakura and Manel Kape. The former was on a six-fight winning streak, but for the latter, he seemed focused, racking up three wins since he last fought Asakura. As such, Kape granted victory in their second outing against each other, but this win was even sweeter because ‘Starboy’ knocked out the former Rizin FF champion in the second round.

They’re now both under the same banner once again, which begs the question: will Manel Kape ever move up to fight Kai Asakura for a third time? We don’t know that yet, but before we make any predictions, let’s take a look at how Asakura’s career has panned out in his 12 years of being a pro.

Asakura’s MMA record so far

The 30-year-old Japanese star has known nothing but mixed martial arts all his life. Unlike most fighters, who have a background in other martial arts disciplines, that isn’t the case for Kai Asakura. As previously mentioned, he’s fought 25 times in his career, a veteran at this stage of his career, and he’s amassed wins via submissions, knockouts, and decisions 21 times. On the other hand, Asakura also has a few losses to his name—4 to be exact.

One important statistic in Kai Asakura’s record is that he’s never been submitted or tapped, but can he keep that statistic intact? That will be interesting to see. Also, the former Rizin FF champion has fought only two non-Asian fighters so far, which may make fans wonder how he’d fare in the UFC, which has fighters with a variety of fighting styles.

What do you make of UFC signing Kai Asakura? Are you excited to see him in action? Drop your comments below.