‘Muhammad Ali Fought Sonny Liston’- Kai Kara-France Says Muhammad Ali Inspired Him to Knock-Out Cody Garbrandt

Kai Kara-France is slowly making his way up to the top of the flyweight division. The City Kickboxing prospect is slowly making his presence felt in the promotion. The fighter made his UFC debut in 2018. Prior to that, he racked up wins in other MMA promotions, such as Glory of Heroes and W.A.R.S.

After his recent win over the former champion, Cody Garbrandt, Kai Kara-France has been the center of attention. Prior to the fight, ‘No-love’ didn’t show any respect towards the Kiwi. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Kai Kara-France spoke about how he felt about Garbrandt before his win last weekend.

Helwani asked Kara-France if he felt disrespected by the way Cody treated him. To that, he said, “Oh yeah, definitely just the way he, I guess, went about it. Just not even really acknowledging me in this whole camp. Not even saying my name. He called me Steve.”

“That was the build-up, you know. Took me back to when Muhammad Ali fought Sonny Liston. He was calling him Cassius clay and in the fight, he said, what’s my name? What’s my name? So it was, you know, pretty relatable moment when I was hitting him and now he remembers my name.”

After the first-round knockout, there is no doubt that Cody Garbrandt is going to remember Kara-France and so will the flyweight division.

READ MORE: UFC 269: Oliveira vs Poirier- Cody Garbrandt vs Kai Kara-France: Prediction and Analysis

What’s next for Kai Kara-France?

There is no doubt that the Kiwi is one of the top fighters in the division, judging from his current form. In his post-fight interview, Kai Kara-France called out the champion Brandon Moreno and the number one contender, Deiveson Figueiredo, for his next bout.

He said,” I know I’m the best in the world, and taking out a former champ just puts me right in line next for the title shot. I’ll be watching Brandon Moreno and Figueiredo. I want the winner out of that fight. 2022 you’ll be seeing the new flyweight world champion right here.”

Do you think ‘Don’t Blink’ has what it takes to be the next UFC Flyweight world champion? Please do let us know in the comments section below.