Report – Cody Garbrandt books UFC flyweight debut, meets Kai Kara-France on December 11th.
One-time UFC bantamweight kingpin, Cody Garbrandt has booked his move to the organization’s flyweight ranks, in the form of a December 11th. UFC Fight Night outing against City Kickboxing striker, Kai Kara-France. A location or venue has yet to be confirmed by the promotion.
Last featuring at his prior bantamweight stomping grounds back in May, former titleholder, Garbrandt dropped a rather one-sided unanimous judging loss to the streaking, Rob Font in the headlining bout of a UFC Vegas 27 showcase. The loss came as the fourth in Garbrandt’s last five Octagon appearances.
Rebounding from a submission loss to Brandon Royval at UFC 259 in March of this year, Kiwi striker, Kara-France stopped Rogerio Bontorin with just five seconds remaining in the opening round of their first round clash — with a rather peculiar knockout finish. Garbrandt’s divisional bow against Kara-France was first reported by ESPN MMA reporter, Brett Okamoto.Â
Garbrandt was slated to headline UFC 255 last November against then-flyweight champion, Deiveson Figueiredo in a flyweight title fight, however, lingering health issues and a tear in his bicep vein ruled him from proceedings.
In his most recent win, Mark Henry mover, Garbrandt launched a massive knockout win over division mainstay, Raphael Assuncao at UFC 250 in June of last year. With just a single second remaining in the second frame, the Ohio native reached down to the canvas, before returning with a cleaning right hook, dropping the Brazilian instantly.
The victory snapped a three-fight knockout slide for the former champion, who had faltered against UFC 265 co-headliner, Pedro Munhoz in the opening round, as well as a pair of knockout defeats to recent returner, former Team Alpha MMA training partner, T.J. Dillashaw.Â
In his run to a title-winning performance against Dominick Cruz, Garbrandt had stopped Takeya Mizugaki, Thomas Almeida, Augusto Mendes, and Marcus Brimage with strikes.Â
City Kickboxing puncher, Kara-France approaches the Octagon for his eighth appearance since his promotional bow back in December of 2018.
Attempting to earn a potential title rematch against recently-minted flyweight gold holder, Brandon Moreno, Kara-France added Bontorin to an organizational résumé which includes victories against the likes of Tyson Nam, Mark De La Rosa, and Raulian Paiva.Â
Senior writer for FightBook MMA. An aspiring mixed martial arts reporter based in Ireland. Producer of news articles, interviews, opinion features, and exclusive features such as, ‘The Fallout’, ‘The Breakdown, and, ‘This Week In MMA’.
