Kai Kara-France targets Tim Elliott for UFC 293: ‘Why not fight a vet like that on my side of the world?’
Kai Kara-France doesn’t think he should have lost to Amir Albazi, but he’s already prepared to move on.
Kara-France dropped a controversial split decision to Albazi in the main event of UFC Vegas 74. Following the fight, the New Zealand fighter was adamant that the judges rendered a bad decision, but that he wasn’t going to spend time worrying over it. Instead, Kara-France plans to put his head down and move on, and he already has the perfect scenario lined up.
“September, UFC is coming back to Sydney,” Kara-France told The MMA Hour. “I don’t really have any injuries or anything, so that’s probably the next date, the next fight that I would love to do. My side of the world, where I’m more comfortable, fighting in front of friends and family. I haven’t done that in a while.
“We’ve got a few guys we want to fight in that top 10. There’s a few guys that have been around for awhile, when I was on The Ultimate Fighter, that for some reasons we’ve never crossed paths. So who knows? We could be ticking off one of those names come September in Sydney.”
UFC 293 is currently planned for Sept. 10 at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, the promotion’s sixth visit to the city and first since 2017. Still over three months away, there are not any fights currently scheduled for the event, but given the location, there is wide speculation that middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will defend his title on the card.
And Kara-France, who is teammates with Adesanya, has an idea for a top-10 matchup that could serve as a main card fight.
“Someone who has always been on my radar, he’s called me out for years, but we’ve never fought: Tim Elliott,” Kara-France said. “He’s a guy who has always been on my radar, and when I made the UFC, every week he would call me out saying, ‘I want to fight this guy! I wanted to fight him since The Ultimate Fighter!’ And I never brought it to attention because after a while, I passed him in the rankings.
“That’s a guy coming off a win, same card, I don’t think he go injured, he’s a vet — he’s had more UFC fights than me — so it’s a name. I don’t know where I’m going to be in the UFC rankings the next day or so, but he’s top 10, why not fight a vet like that on my side of the world? Give the fans what they want. People want to see me fight, they want to see me make that walk on home soil, so why not do it against a vet?”
Both Kara-France and Elliott were members of The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions cast, where Elliott was the top overall pick, while Kara-France was the last man chosen. Kara-France lost in the quarterfinals of the tournament, while Elliott won the whole thing.
Both men have had peaks and valleys since then, but Elliott remains No. 11 in the UFC flyweight rankings and scored a unanimous decision victory over Victor Altamirano at UFC Vegas 74, so the timeline should work out.
And if it doesn’t, or if the UFC simply wants to book some other fight? Kara-France is OK with that, but he has a warning for whoever it is that signs to face him.
“I’ve got the best team in the world. We’ll regroup, and I wouldn’t want to be the next guy that fights me,” Kara-France said. “There’s a fire in me now. It’s always going to be there, but I’m coming off two losses now, and it’s not truly representing my career.
“I’m showcasing that I am one of the best guys, but just on paper it doesn’t look like that. It’s a tough one, but I know that I’m going to be showing everyone what a major comeback is. I look forward to the next one.”