Kai Kara-France insists he IS ready to become a UFC champion as flyweight hopeful lifts the lid on his ‘dream’ of joining team-mates Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski at the top of the sport
- Kai Kara-France says he is ready to become a UFC champion come July 30
- The Kiwi star is set to fight Brandon Moreno for the interim flyweight title
- Kara-France trains with Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanovski in New Zealand
- The 29-year-old spoke about the special ‘energy’ in their gym at the moment
Kai Kara-France says he can’t wait to get in the Octagon and realise his ‘dream’ in becoming the third active trans-Tasman champion in the UFC.
The New Zealander, 29, faces No 1 flyweight contender Brandon Moreno at UFC 277 at the end of July, with the pair battling it out for the interim title because champion Deiveson Figueiredo is injured.
Kara-France hails from the esteemed City Kickboxing gym in New Zealand, where he trains with middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski.
Kai Kara-France insists he is ready to become a UFC champion ahead of his UFC 277 fight
Should the 29-year-old triumph on July 30, he will add a third belt to the gym’s wall in an unprecedented feat, and he has described the energy at City Kickboxing as ‘contagious’.
‘That’s just everything that I’ve worked towards and that would just be a dream that’s all right there in front of me and I’ve visualised this for so long and now that it’s all kind of happening, it’s not something I’m shocked about – it’s all just manifesting and visualising and then working towards how it’s going to become a reality,’ he told Fox Sports Australia.
‘That self-belief is definitely strong at City Kickboxing … it definitely would be a massive milestone for the gym.
‘Alex Volkanovski just flew in this week, so it’s good to have the champ training back with us, the gym’s just a great atmosphere at the moment, everyone getting ready for fights, Alex and Izzy on the same card together, so just feeding off that energy and you know something special is happening at the gym, there’s about to be three world titles at City Kickboxing.
The New Zealander fights for the flyweight interim title against Brandon Moreno in late July
He says it is his ‘dream’ to join team-mates Alex Volkanovski (left) and Israel Adesanya (right) as a UFC champion
‘We’re all climbing to the top.’
Kara-France credited head coach Eugene Bareman for fostering the perfect atmosphere to generate champion after champion.
‘He’s just so selfless,’ he added.
‘So this is just an example, over the last two years when we had all the quarantines and pandemics I think he did quarantine 10 times, and that’s two weeks every time he was away from his family.
‘He’s got five kids and then he’s got so many fighters he looks after but he’s just willing to do that because he wants to see his guys do their best.
‘If your head coach is doing that, you make sure that you’re meeting him halfway.’