Preview: UFC Fight Night 157 ‘Andrade vs. Zhang’

Flyweights

Kai Kara-France (19-7) vs. Mark De La Rosa (11-2)

ODDS: Kara-France (-205), De La Rosa (+165)

Kara-France has not had an amazingly long career, but it has still taken him longer than expected to reach the Octagon. The Kiwi was a standout on the all-flyweight season of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2016, thanks to an impressive knockout of Terrence Mitchell, but he was one of many hurt by the UFC’s decision to only sign a few fighters off that show. For the next two years, Kara-France became a cause celebre of Anzac MMA, as he won fights all over Asia. The UFC finally picked him up in late 2018, though it was strange timing, with the promotion seeming to reconsider the existence of its flyweight division. At any rate, Kara-France has two wins in two UFC bouts thus far, even if he has been more action fighter than clear contender. His fights against Elias Garcia and Raulian Paiva were both entertaining back-and-forth affairs that saw Kara-France net close victories on the scorecards. Wins are wins, and if Kara-France keeps compiling them, his regional fanbase may earn him something bigger. For now, it is time to go for win No. 3 against De La Rosa.

Texas’ De La Rosa has been a perfectly solid UFC fighter thus far and should be helped by the promotion’s decision to keep its flyweight division around. “The Bumblebee” is capable everywhere, but he is at his most dangerous when using his wrestling and finding his opponent's back. That has earned him wins against Elias Garcia and Joby Sanchez, but every time De La Rosa has been asked to face larger and stronger competition -- namely Tim Elliott and Alex Perez -- he has essentially hit a wall. That likely would have been an issue had De La Rosa continued to compete at 135 pounds, but back down at flyweight, he should manage to find enough wins to remain a fun action fighter.

There is a chance that De La Rosa could be the man to knock Kara-France from the ranks of the unbeaten inside the Octagon. Opponents have usually managed to find success initiating grappling exchanges against Kara-France, even if the Kiwi has enough savvy and power to find his way out of them. Given Kara-France’s history of being able to escape grappling danger and De La Rosa’s difficulties against physically stronger fighters, it is easy to see the former being able to shut down the latter’s best weapons. While De La Rosa is the quicker fighter on the feet, he does not have the reach to stay out of danger when Kara-France hits the harder shots of the fight. This should be another entertaining flyweight scrap, but the pick is Kara-France via decision.

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