Kai Asakura is back.
The former RIZIN champion moved back up to 135 pounds—the weight class in which he reigned during his time in the Japanese promotion—and was in vintage form Saturday at UFC Macau as he picked up his first octagon victory with a stunning first-round knockout over Cameron Smotherman.
Watch Asakura’s brutal finish below.
Asakura was in Smotherman’s face from the opening bell, pressuring Smotherman while
also taking his time to search for openings to throw power strikes. It didn’t take long for Asakura to land a crushing right hand, sending his opponent retreating to the fence. Asakura was relentless and a follow-up left hook dropped Smotherman to the canvas and put him down for good just 1:50 into Round 1.
It was a huge moment for Asakura (22-6), who was 0-2 in a pair of flyweight appearances in the UFC. Asakura signed with the promotion in 2024 and was granted an immediate title shot against Alexandre Pantoja, but was dominated en route to a second-round submission loss. He didn’t fare much better in his second UFC fight, losing by submission again to veteran Tim Elliott.
Now, back at bantamweight, Asakura appears to have regained the championship form he showed during his star-making six-year run with RIZIN, where he earned wins over the likes of Kyoji Horiguchi, Manel Kape, and Juan Archuleta.
Smotherman (12-7) could be facing a pink slip after losing his third straight fight and seeing his UFC record fall to 1-3.
