Kai Asakura shows potential in UFC 310 debut but Japan still awaits first champ

Kai Asakura couldn’t make it out of the second round and was finished by flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja in the main event of UFC 310, however, the UFC newcomer gave a solid account of himself in his organizational debut.

The Japanese star and former Rizin champion had his moments against Pantoja, especially in the opening round Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and showed North American fans he has the potential to make some waves in the UFC.

UFC 310 also marked the first time in roughly seven years that Asakura made the cut down to 125 pounds.

“He came in guns-a-blazing, flying knee right away,” UFC president Dana White said of Asakura’s effort, later adding. “He had a good performance.”

Asakura can also hypothetically be a fun addition to the already-deep bantamweight division in the future considering he had been competing primarily at 135 pounds in Rizin.

One major reason Asakura was granted a title shot in his first UFC appearance was the fact Pantoja is 9-0 against current top-10 flyweight contenders, including 3-0 against former champ Brandon Moreno and 2-0 against current No. 1-ranked contender Brandon Royval.

Pantoja became just the second men’s flyweight champion to defend the belt at least thrice, joining Demetrious Johnson who finished his UFC career with 11 successful title defences. Deiveson Figueiredo, a past opponent of Pantoja, defended the belt just twice during his time as a flyweight champ when he still competed in the weight class. 

Pantoja has now won seven in a row and is tied for the all-time lead for victories in the flyweight division. His win over Asakura was his 13th at 125 pounds in the UFC, which ties him with Johnson and Joseph Benavidez for the all-time lead.

Not only that, but it was also Pantoja’s seventh stoppage win which ties him with Johnson and Figueiredo for the division’s all-time lead in that category too.

The current champion even attempted to lure “Mighty Mouse” out of retirement with a post-fight callout, although Johnson officially walked away from MMA earlier this year and the 38-year-old said while reacting during a live stream he was doing that he won’t be coming back to face the reigning UFC champ.

One of Johnson’s record 11 title defences was against Kyoji Horiguchi, a former Bellator and Rizin champion with whom Asakura also has a history.

In fact, Asakura’s best win to date remains his 2019 knockout win over Horiguchi. It was one of the performances that solidified Asakura as a legitimate high-end talent in the smaller weight classes — as did his TKO win over another former Bellator and RIZIN titleholder, Juan Archuleta, on New Year’s Eve last year in his most recent fight prior to his UFC debut.

It ultimately wasn't enough to overcome Pantoja on Saturday.

Asakura became the seventh fighter from Japan to compete for a UFC title and the seventh to fall short, joining Horiguchi, Yushin Okami, Hayato Sakurai, Kenichi Yamamoto, Caol Uno and Yuki Kondo.

Uno came closest to winning one by fighting B.J. Penn to a draw at UFC 41 and that’s not to forget Yamamoto’s and Kazushi Sakuraba’s tournament championships during the late 1990s.

Japan has produced world-class combat sports athletes for generations and mixed martial arts would not have the global reach it does today without the country’s immense influence on the sport. 

Despite the rich history, there has still never been a UFC champion from Japan.

Perhaps one day that’ll change and with some hindsight, Asakura’s UFC debut might end up becoming a catalyst for it finally happening.

White was seen at UFC 310 with Rizin president Nobuyuki Sakakibara and the pair spoke about some future possibilities.

White revealed at his post-event media scrum that Sakakibara told him several of Japan’s up-and-coming fighters have expressed the goal of eventually coming to North America to become the nation’s first UFC champion.

“Having these up-and-coming Japanese fighters, we were just talking in my room, (Sakakibara’s) saying now in Japan all of these young guys want to be the first one to win a world title in the UFC. That’s exciting,” White added.

Sakakibara was an executive with the defunct PRIDE FC organization early in his career.

In the early aughts, the UFC would occasionally allow their fighters to compete in PRIDE. Chuck Liddell notably did it multiple times while under contract with the UFC — and White said he is open to working with Rizin again in the future.

“There’s such a rich history of MMA in Japan," White said. "Some of the best days of my life were our rivalry with PRIDE. It was a really fun time in my life and in his too. We were talking about it, so the answer is yes to all that. I’d love to go do a Fight Night there, too.”

The UFC has held nine total events in Japan but only five since 2000 and none since 2017.