Kaiwhare Kara-France celebrates beating Tyson Nam in Auckland. Photo/Prime TV
Flyweight fighter Kaiwhare "Don't Blink" Kara-France won by unanimous decision against American Tyson Nam on his home debut at UFC Auckland.
It was a dream come true for the Waikato-Tainui fighter. "Ever since I started MMA, this was my dream to fight for the UFC in Spark Arena. I can finally take this off the bucket list," he said this morning following the three-round bout.
Each of the three judges scored the fight 30-27 in Kara-France's favour, to give the 26-year-old a bounce-back win after losing to Brandon Moreno in December.
Kara-France says the hometown support and getting his hand raised as winner meant a lot to him, as do his City Kickboxing team-mates as they look to continue their 2019 breakthrough year into 2020.
"It’s a privilege and an honour to represent New Zealand on the world stage, this means everything to us. This is the takeover in 2020. It will be a massive year for us."
The win lifts Kara-France's record to four wins and one loss since making his UFC debut in 2018. He is hoping to return to the octagon as soon as possible and is eyeing up a spot on the fight card on the UFC's rumoured return to Australia in the coming months.