Like many other UFC fighters, flyweight star Kai Kara-France appeared on the UFC’s flagship show ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ in 2016. However, he wasn’t able to make it into the UFC since he lost in the quarterfinals of the show and was thus knocked out.

To be fair, the Kiwi lost to future flyweight champ and semi-finalist, Alexandre Pantoja, who is presently the best flyweight in the division. However, his UFC dreams didn’t end there as ‘Don’t Blink’ went on a five-fight win streak in the local New Zealand MMA circuit, eventually earning a UFC contract in 2018. Since then, he has emerged as one of the top 125-pounders in the promotion. In this article, we take a look at his ancestry and martial arts background.

What is Kai Kara-France’s ethnicity? Is he of Maori descent?

Kai Kara-France has quite an interesting and varied ancestry. While he is a New Zealand national, having been born and lived his entire life in Auckland, ‘Don’t Blink’ is indeed of Maori ancestry, albeit only partly.

In addition, he has some blood from the Waikato, Ngati Twwharetoa, Ngati Kahungunu, and Tuhoe tribes of the Pacific Islander community which has a significant presence in New Zealand. Former UFC legend Mark Hunt, current heavyweight Tai Tuivasa, and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson are a few of the combat sports athletes who are of Pacific Islander ancestry.

The flyweight, in fact, discovered much about his roots in a trip to Tahiti, where he trains fighters. The Kiwi once ran into an old woman who shares parts of his ancestry.

“Where I was staying was a mountain lodge, my friend set it up. His aunty was the owner. Just by coincidence, they whakapapa [trace their lineage] back to Waikato. They’re Tahitians but they have family in and are connected to the iwi Tainui, which is my iwi [nation]. They mentioned to me, they said, ‘You know, the Tainui waka was made in the forest where you’re staying.’ Kara-France says it felt as if he was exactly where he was meant to be. It’s all surreal and it’s all really connected, and it was like I was meant to stay there and hear these stories,” he said. However, the Kiwi grew up in the biggest metropolis of New Zealand, far from his ancestral village and tribe.

Where did Kai Kara-France grow up? His nationality and early life

Kai Kara-France grew up in the New Zealand capital of Auckland. Like many of his fellow UFC stars, he started on his martial arts journey as a child. The Kiwi started off training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu when he was eight years old. At the same time, he discovered mixed martial arts since his first coach was a professional MMA fighter.

As a child, one of the most defining experiences in ‘Don’t Blink’s life that led him to pursue martial arts was him being bullied. He started learning BJJ precisely because he wanted to have an effective way to protect himself against bigger kids.

And he hasn’t looked back since. The flyweight made his MMA debut in 2010 at the age of 18, and is one of the more prolific martial artists on the UFC roster! At 31, the Kiwi has been in nearly forty professional fights, most of them in the local New Zealand MMA circuit.