During one of the hardest years for the UFC in recent memory, the organization relied heavily on fighters outside of the promotion to fight in order to keep cards together. One of the recipients of that good fortune was Hawaii’s Kai Kamaka III back on August 15, 2020, when he got a call to make his UFC debut.
Over the course of the following year, Kamaka competed three times and is scheduled to return this Saturday at UFC Vegas 33. If both him and his opponent make the walk on Saturday, three of Kamaka’s four fights will have been on short notice. In his most recent outing, he suffered a controversial defeat to TJ Brown.
“I didn’t take any breaks after the TJ Brown fight,” said Kamaka reflecting on his controversial decision loss at UFC on ESPN 23. “For one, I knew that the loss screwed up negotiating power on my side. And two, I felt I didn’t lose. What wound am I going to lick other than the one my bank account took?”
Not one to dwell on the past, Kai Kamaka will look to get back to his winning ways on short notice once again when he steps in for an injured Doo Ho Choi to face Danny Chavez. Both men will be looking to bounce back from decision losses in their last fight.
When asked about how he matches up stylistically against his opponent on Saturday, Kamaka said:
“I think I match up pretty well. I think I am the ‘Hawaiian Superboy’ which isn’t far off from the ‘Korean Superboy’. I think as far as stylistically he may think he matches up well too.” said Kamaka.
Kai Kamaka III returns to action this Saturday at UFC on ESPN 28 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will be headlined by a Middleweight bout between Uriah Hall and Sean Strickland.
