Kiwi flyweight Kai Kara-France has come up short against Brandon Royval at UFC 253, losing via second-round submission at Abu Dhabi's 'Fight Island' on Sunday (NZ time).
After almost two rounds of breathless back and forth action, grappling specialist Royval jumped for a standing guillotine, dragged Kara-France to the mat, readjusted his bodylock for maximum effect and forced the Aucklander to tap out.
It was a fitting end to a scintillating bout where momentum swung multiple times, but was predominantly on Royval's side.
The two fighters set the tone early, coming together in a wild exchange that saw Kara-France wobble Royval with a heavy left hand, then Royval daze Kara-France with a spinning back elbow as the Kiwi rushed in to take advantage.
Royval was relentless with his pressure in the stand-up, coming forward aggressively and using his height and reach to land regularly with elbows and kicks.
Kara-France was able to use some of that aggression to his advantage, and landed regularly with counter shots, earning another knockdown in the second round.
Shortly thereafter, the Colorado native seized his opportunity, wrapping his long arms around Kara-France's neck and using his bodyweight to leverage his way to the fight-ending tap.
The City Kickboxing product's loss takes the Kiwi contingent to a 2-1 record on the night, following Shane Young's knockout defeat and Brad Riddell's unanimous decison win.
Israel Adesanya will defends his middleweight title against Paulo Costa in the main event.
