Kara-France vs Albazi Prediction – Who Will Challenge Brandon Moreno For the Flyweight Throne?

UFC Vegas 74 promises an explosive main card with some incredible fights. This card is a treat for old-school MMA fans as it is full of legendary names, who have 10, 15, or even 20 years of professional experience. But the main event is a glimpse into the future of the Flyweight Division as two of the main prospects will clash in search of a title fight. Here is our Kara-France vs Albazi prediction.

UFC Vegas 74: Kara-France vs Albazi Prediction

Kai Kara-France Preview

Kai is a 30-year-old fighter from New Zealand. He made his UFC debut in 2018 against Elias Garcia, whom he defeated via unanimous decision. In total, Kai spent 10 fights in the UFC: 7 won, 3 lost.

Before his title match against Moreno, Kai was on a streak of 3 victories in a row:

• Rogerio Bontorin – victory by knockout in the 1st round;
• Cody Garbrandt – 1st round knockout
• Askar Askarov – victory by unanimous decision.

He, unfortunately, failed to beat Moreno and got TKO-ed early in the championship match. It's been almost a year since that incredible fight and Kai Kara-France had serious problems with injuries. He has literally not fought in 11 months due to a knee injury.

He claims that he is in his best form right now and he has improved a lot since the defeat, which taught him a lot. We will see how he handles this fight after such long downtime.

Kara-France's Style & Skills

Kai prefers to work on the stand. He throws fast punches, holds up well at medium and long distances, and knows how to effectively work for referees throughout the fight.

Kara-France's skills on the ground are backed up by a purple belt in BJJ, but Kai still cannot cope with elite wrestlers if he is transferred to the ground and fixed there.

Kai knows how to do everything well, but this is his weakness. He is a technical kickboxer, but he does not finish at certain moments and does not put pressure on opponents. If he had worked a little more intensively and more aggressively in the first fight against Brandon Moreno, he would have won. This is why we have a clear idea about our main Kara-France vs Albazi prediction. But you will have to wait a bit longer for that. Let's take a look at Amir Albazi.

Amir Albazi Preview

Amir is a 29-year-old fighter from Sweden. He made his UFC debut in July 2020 against Malcolm Gordon, who was choked out in the 1st round.

Since he joined, Amir has had only four fights but he won every single one of them. His biggest problem is that he has never faced such a tough opponent to date. He had scheduled fights against ranked fighters last year but in both cases, the matches got canceled due to injuries.

Albazi's Style & Skills

Amir is a versatile fighter. In the stand, he is distinguished by his high speed and accuracy of strikes. On the ground, he is strong not with his grappling skills in the form of control and damage, but with a wide arsenal of BJJ techniques: the Iraqi fighter is able to perform a submission from any position.

The main disadvantage of Albazi is endurance. He sags on cardio by the 3rd round and can give the initiative to the opponent. It happened in a duel with Jose Torres in the Brave promotion. Then the experienced American, after two equal rounds, took the final segment of the fight and won the fight.

Kara-France vs Albazi: Either way, this fight will not reach the distance

Five rounds are too much for these two fighters. Albazi is a finisher, as he said in his UFC Vegas 74 press conference, and he will try to end this fight as soon as possible. But he has not faced a top-ranked opponent until now and we do not think that his chances are huge. His only chance is to take Kara-France to the ground and submit him.

However, it should be noted that Kara-France's takedown defense has improved a lot in the last couple of years and he will not give in a takedown unless it is perfectly executed. Kara-France has a blue belt in BJJ but his skills are mediocre. He specializes in Muay Thai and Kickboxing and is a very aggressive fighter, so we expect him to try and knock out Albazi.

We believe that Kai Kara-France will win this fight and there is value in the odds. For some reason, he is not a huge favorite although his opponent is a rising star and this will be his first ranked fight. You can either opt for the Kara-France win or even the KO win for him. You can consider this our secondary Kai Kara-France vs Amir Albazi prediction. The main one remains the under. And you can generally pick whichever line you feel safe with. We think that three rounds will be more than enough for an early finish, so the Under 3.5 sounds perfect.