New Zealand's Kai Kara-France picked-off Tyson Nam over three rounds to take a comfortable unanimous decision victory in the first fight of the preliminary card at UFC Auckland this morning.

Despite a rough start where his nose was busted by a left hook from Nam, Kara-France took over as the fight progressed, setting a personal record for significant strikes landed in a UFC fight.

As Kara-France entered the octagon, the home crowd roared with appreciation. Bruce Buffer emphasized his cry “fighting out of Auckland, New Zealand!”.

Round 1

It was Kara-France who pressured Nam out the gate, holding the centre of the Octagon and feinting to get his read on Nam’s reactions. Kara-France was targeting the right uppercut on his entry, with a couple of glancing attempts.

Nam pressed into the clinch and was repelled by a couple of sharp elbows from Kara-France. With a minute to go, the left hook of Nam cracked the head of Nam backwards, causing blood to leak from the nose. Nam initiated the clinch and pressed Kara-France to the cage, again eating a nasty elbow on the inside.

Despite Kara-France controlling the start of the round, it was Nam who dealt more damage in the first frame, with blood leaking from the (possibly broken) nose of Kara-France as he walked to his corner.

Round 2

Kara-France came out aggressive in the second, crashing a switch kick into the guard of Nam, who again initiated the clinch and ran into sharp right elbows on the inside.

Kara-France kept the pressure on, snatching up a leg and looking for the high-crotch against the fence, transitioning to a double-leg which was shucked off by Nam as they circled again in the centre.

Blood leaked from the nose of Kara-France as he kept slinging with intent, putting heat on his punches as Nam took the offense, corralling him to the cage and pressuring. Kara-France landed a nice elbow and a vicious overhand.

Kara-France out-landed Nam in both rounds so far, according to the unofficial fight metric stats.

Round 3

Kara-France controlled the centre in round three, faking a left front kick to follow up with a left straight which scythed through the guard of Nam effectively.

They traded jabs in the centre, but it was the combination work of Kara-France which let him take the lead in this fight, slapping a leg kick and following up with half a dozen straight punches unanswered by Nam.

Kara-France changed levels with a minute to go and blasted through the hips of Nam to take him down briefly, before he popped back up. Nam initiated the clinch and clasped a body-lock, in a desperation play to win as the time ran out, but it was too little too late.

Kai Kara-France takes the unanimous decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Kai Kara-France at the ceremonial weigh-ins yesterday.