Fight Coverage
Rematch Timeline | Alexandre Pantoja vs Kai Kara-France
After First Meeting On The Ultimate Fighter, Alexandre Pantoja And Kai Kara-France Get To Fight With UFC Gold On The Line At UFC 317: Topuria vs Oliveira
Although Alexandre Pantoja’s fight with Kai Kara-France isn’t technically a rematch, the two have history that tied them together for nearly a decade. Back in 2016, they competed on The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions. At the time, the flyweight division was in its infancy and in search of new challengers for Demetrious Johnson’s long held crown. Henry Cejudo and Joseph Benavidez served as the season’s coaches, and in the quarterfinals, Pantoja and Kara-France locked horns for the first time.
Nine years later, they will officially do the dance as UFC contenders. Pantoja, the winner of the original matchup almost 10 years ago, is now an entrenched champion having defended the belt three times. On the other side, Kara-France established himself as a title contender over the last few years and once challenged for the interim title.
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The two are slotted for the co-main event at UFC 317: Topuria vs Oliveira, and both men’s track records suggest a high-level banger in Las Vegas.
Before they make the walk, let’s take a look at the distinct journeys that brought them back into one another’s orbits:
The First Fight
While non-semifinal fights on The Ultimate Fighters are not official bouts, they still mean something to everyone involved. This much was true when Pantoja fought Brandon Moreno for the title, and a similar context exists between Pantoja and Kara-France.
Pantoja started their second round tournament bout quickly, shooting for a takedown within the first 10 seconds. Kara-France defended well and was able to counter with some strikes, but a slip allowed the Brazilian to pounce on his back and regain control of the pace. The threat of the takedown slowed the then-23-year-old Kiwi down a bit on the feet, and Kara-France wasn’t ever able to get off in a significant manner.
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Round two mostly took place on the feet, but Pantoja was able to go strike-for-strike with Kara-France, who found most of his success working off low leg kicks. When the methodically intense fight came to a close, Pantoja had done enough to earn the judges’ nod and move on to the semifinals. Pantoja and Kara-France exchanged pleasantries afterward, and at 26 and 23 years old, respectively, both felt they had plenty ahead of themselves in the fight game.
The Road After TUF
Pantoja would fall out of the tournament in his next fight as he lost to Hiromasa Ougikoubo, but he would make his promotional debut in January 2017. There, he picked up a split decision win over Eric Shelton followed with a submission win over Neil Seery. Pantoja dropped his next fight against Dustin Ortiz, but he strung together a trio of wins to break into the flyweight rankings as he bested Moreno, Ulka Sasaki and Wilson Reis in consecutive outings.
That bout set up a date with eventual champion Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 240, and the two future titleholders battled for 15 minutes, earning Fight of the Night honors. However, Figureiredo earned the decision win as he made his beeline to the title. Pantoja split his next two fights—a KO win over Matt Schnell and a decision loss to Askar Askarov—which kept him out of the title picture.
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For Kara-France, he catapulted himself back into the promotion off the back of five consecutive wins from March 2017 to March 2018. When he made his UFC debut in December 2018, he did so in style as he picked up a decision win over Elias Garcia in a bout that earned a Fight of the Night nod. A pair of decision wins over Raulian Paiva and Mark De La Rosa positioned Kara-France to challenge the rankings, but he fell to Moreno in a close decision.
Kara-France bounced back against Tyson Nam, but his momentum got stymied when he fought Brandon Royval. Despite rocking Royval early, Kara-France got hit with a spinning elbow that put him on the back foot for the rest of the fight until Royval snatched a guillotine early in the second frame. Consistency and his knockout touch were eluding Kara-France early, but after his second Fight of the Night bonus, he was keen to remind folks why people call him “Don’t Blink.”
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Breaking Into The Title Picture
Pantoja and Kara-France each strung together three-fight winning streaks, which coincidentally led to a crossing of their paths in a way.
Kara-France had a banner 2021 campaign. He tallied his first UFC finish in impressive fashion, knocking Rogério Bontorin out in the first round at UFC 259, and locked up his first performance bonus, as well. He followed that with a high-profile matchup against former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt, who was making his flyweight debut at UFC 269. Despite much of the attention going to “No Love,” Kara-France bided his time until he uncorked a heavy combination midway through the opening stanza of their fight en route to another first-round knockout win and performance bonus. Three months later, he took out top contender Askarov, handing him his first professional loss. Those wins landed Kara-France an interim title shot against Moreno at UFC 277 in Dallas.
Pantoja would string together his own streak of victories in that timespan. First, he welcomed Manel Kape to the UFC and earned a steady decision win over the former ONE Championship titleholder. Next came Royval, and Pantoja once again showed his craftiness as he secured a second-round submission win, his first such victory in nearly three years. That brought Pantoja to Dallas, as well, where he faced Alex Perez at UFC 277 in what felt like a No. 1 contender fight. Pantoja took it as such and blitzed Perez, eventually wrapping up a submission win 91 seconds into the fight.
Later that night, Kara-France made his first championship walk. Moreno’s experience shined early, but Kara-France started to find his openings in the third round, splitting the Mexican open with a punch. However, Moreno halted all that momentum with a vicious body kick that folded Kara-France and ended the fight. Kara-France’s dreams of UFC gold would have to wait while Pantoja seemed to have finally done enough to get his shot at the title.
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Title Contention
After years of Moreno and Figueiredo defining the flyweight title picture, Pantoja bulldozed his way into the conversation and got himself a title shot at UFC 290 in Las Vegas. A lot of the build-up circled around Pantoja’s wins over Moreno on The Ultimate Fighter, as well as five years prior in Chile. With gold on the line, the two battled in a back-and-forth, 25-minute affair, and Pantoja got the split decision nod to become a UFC champion.
Alexandre Pantoja Octagon Interview | UFC 290
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Alexandre Pantoja Octagon Interview | UFC 290
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His run since then has been dominant. Pantoja picked up decision wins over Royval and Steve Erceg before welcoming Kai Asakura to the promotion. In his fourth title fight in 17 months, Pantoja looked as sharp as ever and wrapped up a submission win midway through the second round at UFC 310, establishing him as arguably the second-greatest flyweight champion behind “Mighty Mouse.”
While Pantoja cemented himself as one of the greats, Kara-France was forced to take a bit of a journey. He returned a year after his loss to Moreno for a main event against Amir Albazi, and despite many feeling like he did more than enough to get the bounce-back win, the judges handed Albazi the split decision verdict.
Three months later, Kara-France hoped to keep his name in the title picture with a win over Manel Kape at UFC 293, but a concussion suffered in training forced Kara-France to pull out of the fight in the waning weeks of camp, delaying his return. More than a year would pass before Kara-France returned, but he did so in impressive style. Fighting in Erceg’s backyard of Perth at UFC 305, Kara-France connected with a bomb in the first round to re-establish himself as a top contender and setting up a long-awaited date with Pantoja.
Nine years and more than 30 combined fights later after their meeting on The Ultimate Fighter, Pantoja and Kara-France get to officially collide with UFC gold on the line. Both men are far superior to the versions of themselves that locked horns in the old TUF gym years ago, and their track records since that bout translates to a fight that should get fans out of their seats on June 28.
UFC 317: Topuria vs Oliveira took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 28, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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