A Flyweight title fight headlined UFC 310 with the champion Alexandre Pantoja defending his belt against UFC debutant Kai Asakura. 

The UFC recently signed Kai Asakura from the Japanese MMA organisation Rizin, where he recorded 13 wins in six years, including eight by KO. 

This is only the second time the UFC has awarded a debutant a title fight after Gilbert Melendez in 2013 when he challenged for the lightweight title. 

Asakura was three years younger than his opponent and had a 3-inch height advantage. 

The fight started in frenetic fashion as Pantoja pushed forward only to be hit by a sharp flying knee, with Asakura hoping to keep the fight at a distance. 

The Brazilian champion soon recovered, though, and connected with a knee of his own before landing a huge left jab, which rocked Asakura against the cage. 

As the round wore on, the pace stayed at a very high level with Asakura attempting to work Pantoja’s body, but the champion kept responding with big right hands due to the challengers’ hands-down stance. 

With two minutes to go of round one, Asakura closed the distance superbly to connect with a big left overhand, which Pantoja just shrugged off. 

Asakura connected with a vicious head kick but Pantoja quickly fired back with a body kick off his own; the action was not slowing down as round two approached. 

Round two started in a similar fashion to the first as Pantoja rushed forward immediately before being caught with a duo of hooks. 

The champion then showed his grappling capabilities as he took the back of the challenger before taking him down to the mat. 

With this takedown, Alexandre Pantoja now has the fourth highest amount of takedowns in UFC Flyweight history with 37. 

Asakura desperately tried to wrestle the hands of Pantoja in order to escape a rear naked choke attempt; however, the champion had managed to use his legs to secure a body triangle. 

From here, Pantoja was able to lock in the rear naked choke with relative ease and had it secured very tight.  

Asakura refused to tap out but was eventually put to sleep with the referee, Jazon Herzog, calling an end to the contest with two minutes and five seconds of the second round gone. 

The Brazilian retained his title and took his winning streak to seven straight victories, surely cementing himself as one of the greatest UFC flyweights in history. 

After the fight, Pantoja called out the retired Demetrious Johnson, who many consider to be one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time, in order to prove to everyone that he is the greatest flyweight of all time. 

For Asakura it was a disappointing debut, but at 31 years of age he is still at the peak of his MMA career. 

Potential next fights for the Japanese fighter could include Steve Erceg, who is coming off the back of a defeat to Kai Kara-France, or Manel Kape, who lost to former UFC fighter Muhammad Mokaev back in July.