UFC Vegas 74 start time, who is fighting tonight on ESPN+ | Kara-France vs. Albazi

After a weekend off, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is back to stage UFC Vegas 74 later TONIGHT (Sat., June 3, 2023) inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring a flyweight fight between Kai Kara-France and Amir Albazi. In the co-main event, Alex Caceres will face off against Daniel Pineda in a featherweight affair.

What’s Hot:

After being forced out of a fight against Alex Perez with a knee injury earlier this year, Kai Kara-France returns four months removed from his withdrawal to headline his first-ever UFC event. In his five years with the promotion, France has racked up a 7-3 record, which has helped him move up to the No. 3 spot. France came up short in his bid to win the interim flyweight title against Brandon Moreno at UFC 277 nearly a year ago (see it here), so he is looking to get back on track and into the title picture.

As for his opponent, Amir Albazi, he has quietly won his first four fights inside the Octagon since making his UFC debut, three of them via stoppage. He’s won 16 of his 17 pro fights. Albazi has proven to be quite the buzzsaw with 14 of his wins not needing ingjudges. Albazi’s bread-and-butter is the submission game, forcing nine of his foes to scream uncle. And while he does have five knockouts to his credit, it’s the ground game that France has to worry about. It’s an interesting clash of styles because France prefers to stand-and-bang, so it will all come down to who can implement their gameplan first.

All of that said, the winner could make a huge case for a shot at the title against the winner of the upcoming championship fight between Moreno and Alexandre Pantoja, which is set to go down at the upcoming UFC 290 fight card on July 8, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

What’s Not:

Andrei Arlovski is 4-1 in his last five fights inside the Octagon, yet matchmakers still deemed it necessary to put the former heavyweight champion and longtime veteran on the undercard against Don’Tale Mayes. Sure, he is coming off a loss to Marcos Rogerio de Lima, but he's done pretty well for himself over the last two years to not be relegated to the “prelims.” I can think of at least two fights on the main card that this fight could replace.

LIVE! Stream UFC Vegas 74 On ESPN+

HIGH STAKES FLYWEIGHT MATCHUP! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns home to UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sat., June 3, 2023, with No. 3-seeded contender, Kai Kara-France, face rising No. 7-ranked Amir Albazi. In UFC Vegas 74’s ESPN+-streamed co-main event, an exciting Featherweight bout sees No. 15-ranked contender, Alex Caceres, lock horns with all-action Daniel Pineda.

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