Proven UFC flyweight removed from rankings, taking break for remainder of 2025

A stalwart contender within the UFC’s flyweight division was absent from the latest rankings update, and one of the most prominent combat sports journalists in the world delved into the specifics on why that is.

On The Ariel Helwani Show, the titular figure was addressing Kai Kara-France being removed from the UFC flyweight rankings and began running down the top ten hierarchy among 125-pounders right now. Kara-France, who was in the top ten, is now completely gone, and with Ariel Helwani clarifying that the former UFC flyweight title challenger has not been released from the promotion, Helwani said,

“Well I did reach out to his team and they told me that yes, it is in fact true. He is not in the rankings and they explain why. They told me that he informed the UFC that he was taking the year off. That there were other things that he wanted to do. He is not retiring necessarily but he is taking a break. He is taking at least a year off. He wants to get some cultural things.”

“Some things that have nothing to do with fighting. He’s very spiritual, obviously we’ve seen him do stuff for his culture, for his heritage, for his people, for his country. He’s taking this break, as a result removed himself from the testing pool. As a result, he is out of the rankings. He is not eligible to be ranked. So that is why he has not shown up on this week’s rankings.”

Kai Kara-France’s efforts in the UFC so far

The UFC tenure of Kai Kara-France has definitely featured some notable highlights throughout. While he became quasi-aligned with the company during his time on the twenty-fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter, Kara-France made his official UFC debut in December 2018.

Since then, ‘Don’t Blink’ has secured statement wins in the octagon against the likes of Cody Garbrandt, Askar Askarov, and Steve Erceg.

Kara-France’s last Ultimate Fighting Championship outing prior to the announcement of this break saw him fall short of capturing the 125-pound crown when he battled Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 317 in June.