Kai Asakura Reveals He Considered Retiring Before First UFC Win
The win ends a two-fight losing streak that had put Asakura's UFC future in doubt and earned him a Performance of the Night bonus, setting up a potential bantamweight run.
Reporting from 1 sources: KAI-YOU.
Kai Asakura, the mixed martial artist and YouTuber, updated his YouTube channel on May 31 to reflect on his first UFC victory the previous day. After two consecutive losses since his debut, he secured a first-round KO against Cameron Smotherman in Macau and admitted he was thinking of retiring if he lost.
Kai Asakura's first UFC win was also his first victory in two years and five months, since his RIZIN title fight against Juan Archuleta. The first-round KO at 1 minute 50 seconds came with former UFC fighter Masanori Kanehara as head coach. Asakura said he finally proved his ability and expressed a desire to fight at the UFC Shanghai event in August, aiming for another KO and a ranked opponent in the bantamweight division.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.