RIZIN star Kai Asakura will make his UFC debut on December 7 when the promotion closes out its pay-per-view scheduled in Las Vegas.
As announced by CEO Dana White, Asakura will challenge reigning flyweight world champion Alexandre Pantoja in the UFC 310 co-main event, a bit of news that has some fans frustrated.
While it’s becoming more common for fighters to earn a title opportunity with just a few fights under their belt i.e. Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka, seeing a newcomer immediately step into the title picture and challenge an established champion while simultaneously skipping a line of top 10 contenders is unusual, even for UFC standards.