A decorated former MMA champion could be fighting with his back against the wall when he returns to action at UFC Macau.
Scheduled to take place at Macau’s Galaxy Arena on May 30, this year’s edition of UFC Macau is headlined by a bantamweight matchup between top-ranked contender Song Yadong and former UFC Flyweight Champion Deiveson Figueiredo.
Another former MMA titleholder will also be in action earlier in the night at UFC Macau, as the promotion recently announced that Kai Asakura is officially returning to the bantamweight division for a matchup with Cameron Smotherman.
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Kai Asakura returns to bantamweight after 0-2 UFC run
One of the biggest stars in Japanese MMA, Asakura established himself as one of the top fighters competing outside of the UFC during his incredibly successful run with top Japanese fight promotion RIZIN FF.
Asakura shared the ring with current top-ranked UFC flyweight contenders Manel Kape and Kyoji Horiguchi during his time with RIZIN, knocking Horiguchi out in just over a minute in 2019 before his countryman got revenge with a first-round finish of his own in a bantamweight title bout at RIZIN 26.
The 32-year-old reclaimed the RIZIN bantamweight belt by stopping Juan Archuleta at RIZIN 45 before signing with the UFC the following year. Asakura was given an immediate flyweight title shot against Alexandra Pantoja but was submitted in the second round, and he suffered the same fate in his second Octagon outing against former flyweight title challenger Tim Elliott at UFC 319.
Cameron Smotherman also brings losing skid to UFC Macau
The Japanese star will try to reignite his UFC career by moving back up to 135 lbs. at UFC Macau, where Smotherman will also be looking to snap a two-fight skid and even out his own UFC record.
The former Fury FC bantamweight champion initially got a chance to join the UFC in 2023 when he was booked to fight on Dana White’s Contender Series. After being knocked out by Charalampos Grigoriou, Smotherman stopped three out of his next four opponents and won four-straight fights to earn a short-notice call-up to the UFC in 2024.
“The Baby-Faced Killa” scored a major upset over Jake Hadley in his promotional debut, but last year he dropped decisions to Serhiy Sidey and Ricky Simon. Smotherman famously passed out on stage after weighing in for a matchup with Ricky Turcios ahead of UFC 324, and he may also be fighting for his place on the roster when he and Asakura square off at UFC Macau on May 30.
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UFC Macau Fight Card
• Main Event: Song Yadong vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
• Co-Main Event: Mingyang Zhang vs. Alonzo Menifield
• Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tallison Teixeira
• Alex Perez vs. Sumudaerji
• Kai Asakura vs. Cameron Smotherman
• Luis Felipe Dias vs. Yi Sak Lee
• Rei Tsuruya vs. Jesus Aguilar
• Loma Lookboonmee vs. Jacqueline Amorim
• Aoriqileng vs. Cody Haddon
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