Kai Kara-France is favored against Brandon Royval at UFC 253: Adesanya vs. Costa on Saturday, September 26 in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. This event is one of five fights on the main pay-per-view card. Kara-France is 21-8 in his career, while Royval is 11-4 in his career. There are a total of five fights on the main pay-per-view card on UFC 253: Adesanya vs. Costa, with the headliner a bout between Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa. There are also a total of six fights on the preliminary card with four on ESPN 2/ESPN+ and two on ESPN2/ESPN+/ UFC Fight Pass. Let’s look at the bout between Kara-France and Royval and UFC picks.
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Kai Kara-France (21-8, 4-1 UFC)
Kara-France came into the UFC with a record of 17-7 and he has four wins and one loss in the UFC. He defeated Elias Garcia by unanimous decision, Raulian Paiva by split decision, Mark De La Rosa by unanimous decision, and Tyson Nam by unanimous decision; while losing to Brandon Moreno by unanimous decision. Kara-France has been a pro since 2010 and he has nine wins by TKO/KO and three by submission. He has 10 first round finishes.
Brandon Royval (11-4, 1-0 UFC)
Royval came into the UFC with a record of 10-4 and he has one win and no losses in the UFC. He defeated Tim Elliott by arm-triangle submission. Royval’s last loss in his career was against Casey Kenney by unanimous decision on November 9, 2018. Royval has been a pro since 2012 and he has three wins by TKO/KO and seven by submission. He has eight first round finishes.
Royval said this to mmajunkie.usatoday.com about his upcoming fight against Kara-France, “I see it going a million different ways. I don’t see it necessarily playing out a specific way, but I definitely see me overwhelming him a little bit. Honestly, it’s my style too. I go forward a lot, I throw a lot of punches, I attack a lot when we’re on the ground, and I have a little bit of an overwhelming style, and I think that’ll play into my benefit in this fight.”
Striking Stats
Strikes landed per minute: Kara-France 5.27/ Royval 1.93
Striking Accuracy: Kara-France 38% / Royval 48%
Strikes absorbed per minute: Kara-France 3.79/ Royval 2.05
Defense: Kara-France 67% / Royval 46%
Grappling Stats
Takedown average: Kara-France 0.60/ Royval 1.81
Takedown Accuracy: Kara-France 25% / Royval 100%
Takedowns defended: Kara-France 90% / Royval 60%
Submission average: Kara-France 0.0/ Royval 3.6
UFC Picks
How good is Royval? We really don’t know, as he has fought just once in the UFC and he won by submission against Elliott. Kara-France has been good in his UFC career, but his level of competition has been marginal. I lean slightly toward Royval simply because of the price, as he is about a 2-1 underdog, but I think the better play is the rounds. These two are intense fighters who will be going right at each other from the start. I can’t see this fight going the distance and we get plus money on the rounds under 2.5. I will take the under in this fight.
UFC 253: Adesanya vs. Costa Card & Odds
Middleweight Championship: Paulo Costa +150 vs. Israel Adesanya -181
Light Heavyweight Championship: Jan Blachowicz +221 vs. Dominick Reyes -274
Flyweight: Brandon Royval +188 vs. Kai Kara France -230
Featherweight: Hakeem Dawodu -107 vs. Zubaira Tukhugov -117
Welterweight: Diego Sanchez +480 vs. Jake Matthews -678
Lightweight: Alex Da Silva +249 vs. Brad Riddell -313
Light Heavyweight: William Knight +143 vs. Aleksa Camur -171
Heavyweight: Jeff Hughes +228 vs. Juan Espino -284
Light Heavyweight: Danilo Marques +138 vs. Khadis Ibragimov -166
Featherweight: Ludovit Klein +103 vs. Shane Young -127
Women's Bantamweight: Sijara Eubanks +158 vs. Ketlen Vieira -191
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