Kai Asakura Found His Weight Class — Now He Wants the Bantamweight Striking Crown

Kai Asakura came to the UFC with a résumé that read like a highlight reel — a two-time Rizin champion who traded wins with Kyoji Horiguchi and Manel Kape in Japan. Then the promotion dropped him straight into a flyweight title fight at UFC 310, where Alexandre Pantoja submitted him two minutes into round two. Eight months later he tapped again, this time to journeyman Tim Elliott, and suddenly a career built on 17 stoppages in 22 wins looked stuck.

The fix wasn't technical. It was the scale. Asakura, 31, moved up to bantamweight and knocked out Cameron Smotherman in the first round in Macau — his first UFC win and, by his own account, a long-overdue reminder of who he actually is. He returns Saturday at the Oriental Sports Arena in Shanghai against Aoriqileng on a card headlined by Nurmagomedov vs. Song.

The Cut Was the Problem

Asakura said the weight was eating his career alive. At flyweight he needed all eight months between the Pantoja and Elliott losses just to recover and reset for another brutal cut. Compare that to Rizin, where he fought three times a year and only sat out 2022 because of a hand injury. Now at 135, he says he's finally training to sharpen his weapons instead of surviving the scale — and the quick turnaround to Shanghai is proof.

He wants to keep it that way, targeting a fight every three to four months. That's a pace he ran comfortably in Japan and one the flyweight grind simply wouldn't allow.

The Matchup

Aoriqileng, 33, followed a near-identical path. "The Mongolian Murderer" started 0-2 in the UFC at flyweight, dropping decisions to Jeff Molina and Cody Durden, then moved up to bantamweight and steadied things to a 4-3 record with one no contest. His overall mark sits at 26-13, and he's earned wins over Cameron Else, Johnny Munoz Jr. and Cody Gibson on the back of power and durability. He's coming off a KO loss to Cody Haddon.

Asakura sees Aoriqileng as a similar striker to Smotherman, which is exactly why he's grinning about the assignment. He said he intends to prove he's the No. 1 striker at bantamweight in the UFC — and he's already got a list of names in mind for after. First, though, he needs number 23, and a 15th pro knockout would make the case for him.