{"id":38567,"date":"2026-05-31T17:49:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T17:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Kai-Asakura-plans-to-stay-at-bantamweight-after-first-UFC-win-201380"},"modified":"2026-05-31T17:49:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T17:49:49","slug":"kai-asakura-plans-to-stay-at-bantamweight-after-first-ufc-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/kai-asakura-plans-to-stay-at-bantamweight-after-first-ufc-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Kai Asakura plans to stay at bantamweight after first UFC win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Kai
\nAsakura<\/a> believes he has found the right weight class for
\nhimself. <\/p>\n

Asakura (22-6) took on Cameron
\nSmotherman<\/a> in a bantamweight tilt at
\nUFC Macau<\/a> on Saturday Asakura violently knocked out Smotherman
\nless than two minutes into the opening round, also earning himself
\na $100,000 performance bonus. The Japanese standout believes he may
\nfinally have found his right weight class after moving up from
\nflyweight.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Right Move<\/h2>\n

\u201cHaving moved up to this division and having actually done this
\nfight, I definitely do feel like this is the right one for me,\u201d
\nAsakura said in a post-fight interview with the UFC. \u201cI think in
\nterms of the power, the strength and the speed this division is
\nright for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asakura came to the
\nUFC<\/a> as the highly-touted
\nRizin Fighting Federation<\/a> bantamweight champion. However,
\nAsakura started his UFC career at flyweight, where he took on the
\ntoughest matchup, challenging Alexandre
\nPantoja<\/a> for the title in 2024. Pantoja derailed Asakura\u2019s hype
\ntrain by putting him to sleep with a rear-naked choke. Asakura then
\nfaced Tim Elliott<\/a>
\nat UFC 319 last year. Elliott forced Asakura to tap with a
\nguillotine choke.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

\u201cThis was always my dream.”<\/p>\n

Kai
\nAsakura<\/a> (@kai_1031_<\/a>)
\nsecures his first UFC win with a devastating knockout of Cameron
\nSmotherman<\/a> at #UFCMacau<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Results, highlights & more \u27a1\ufe0f: https:\/\/t.co\/CSvPFFBNfB<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/UfiGX5ml78<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UFC News (@UFCNews)
\nMay 30, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kai Asakura believes he has found the right weight class for himself.  Asakura (22-6) took on Cameron Smotherman in a bantamweight tilt at UFC Macau on Saturday Asakura violently knocked out Smotherman less than two minutes into the opening round, also earning himself a $100,000 performance bonus. The Japanese standout believes he may finally have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}