Preview: UFC on ESPN 46 ‘Kara-France vs. Albazi’

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will return to the UFC Apex after the rare off week with an interesting grab bag of bouts on Saturday in Las Vegas. It all starts with the rare flyweight headliner, as former interim title challenger Kai Kara-France looks to hold serve against promising but unproven prospect Amir Albazi in the UFC on ESPN 46 main event. The next few fights below them are all about veterans. The featherweight co-feature between Alex Caceres and Daniel Pineda could have happened at any point in the last decade; Jim Miller adds to his record for most appearances in UFC history when he takes on Jared Gordon; and Tim Elliott finds his way back to the Octagon following a long layoff to face Victor Altamirano. Two engaging affairs kick off the main draw, as dynamic flyweight prospects Karine Silva and Ketlen Souza try to separate themselves as talents to watch, and Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos attempts to regain some momentum against Abubakar Nurmagomedov at 170 pounds.

Now to the UFC on ESPN 46 ‘Kara-France vs. Albazi’ preview:

Flyweights

#3 FLW | Kai Kara-France (24-10, 7-3 UFC) vs. #7 FLW | Amir Albazi (16-1, 4-0 UFC)

ODDS: Kara-France (-110), Albazi (-110)

Flyweights take center stage, and it is nice to see Kara-France earn a main event slot, given that his success in the UFC was not particularly guaranteed. “Don’t Blink” was part of the all-flyweight season of “The Ultimate Fighter” back in 2016, and the promotion surprisingly passed on signing the New Zealander; he may have had his flaws as a prospect, but he showed a rare level of knockout power for a 125-pound competitor, putting him in the mold of fighter the UFC typically likes to sign. Whenever the UFC swung down to Oceania, there was a bit of a clamor for the promotion to sign Kara-France until he finally made his Octagon debut in late 2018. It seemed like the absolute worst time for Kara-France to put pen to paper, given that the UFC was obviously looking to close the flyweight division. However, the division wound up surviving and Kara-France found a solid level of success, even if he seemed to be walking a razor’s edge at times. His knockout power was nullified a bit by a clear athletic gap against a lot of opposition, leading to the Kiwi fighting behind a counter-heavy style and earning a lot of nip-tuck decisions. However, after a 2020 loss to Brandon Royval, things have suddenly clicked at a new level for Kara-France, particularly as he has gotten more comfortable fighting with aggression. That was not on display in his win over Rogerio Bontorin, but he blasted Cody Garbrandt without much issue before putting in the best performance of his career against Askar Askarov, showing an impressive level of improvement with his takedown defense and outworking the more highly touted talent. That led to Kara-France’s most recent assignment: an interim title bout against Brandon Moreno that represented a solid bit of business, even in defeat. Kara-France continued to impress in his evolution, better mixing in patience and aggression while winning the majority of the fight, though it was Moreno who suddenly turned things around with a kick to the liver that folded the City Kickboxing star and led directly to a finish. That may have been Kara-France’s big shot at gold, but there is still a lot to be settled near the top of the flyweight division as the situation finally moves on from Moreno’s series of title fights against Deiveson Figueiredo. For now, the Kiwi looks to hold serve against Albazi and hopes a path to the title opens up from there.

A late-notice pickup by the UFC in 2020, Albazi came to the promotion with an interesting resume. He made his pro debut as a teenager back in 2009 but never pieced together a particularly active schedule. That could have cut either way in terms of Albazi either being too raw to make an impact at the UFC level or hitting the promotion at just the right time, but it looks like “The Prince” has fallen firmly into the latter category, as his four wins in the Octagon have come without much in the way of difficulty. Most of Albazi’s pre-UFC success came via a power grappling game that still serves as his bread and butter, but he has done well to show off a striking attack that is much improved from his 2019 loss to UFC veteran Jose Torres. He has had to mix in some takedowns in all of his UFC fights to find success, but it was promising to see him score a brutal knockout win in his last fight against late replacement Alessandro Costa. It is a bit hard to say much else about Albazi heading into this matchup, as he has yet to be tested since clearly hitting his stride a few fights ago, though not for lack of trying. Various bookings that would have moved Albazi up in the rankings have been scrapped due to injuries on either side. Albazi’s wrestling is a clear potential path to victory, though less so than ever given Kara-France’s own recent improvements. Past that, there are a bunch of unknowns. Albazi’s cardio held up better in his win against Costa than in his 2021 decision victory over Zhalgas Zhumagulov, but it is still untested over five rounds; and it remains unclear if either man can threaten the other enough to get him moving backwards, where each is much less effective. At the end of the day, the call is to lean towards the more proven fighter, but this is still a well-matched showcase for both men that should also be a fun fight to watch. The pick is Kara-France via decision.

Jump To »
Kara-France vs. Albazi
Caceres vs. Pineda
Gordon vs. Miller
Elliott vs. Altamirano
Silva vs. Souza
Nurmagomedov vs. Zaleski dos Santos
The Prelims