Kai Kamaka never took his first stint with the UFC for granted, but now he’s more determined than ever before to return to his old stomping ground.
The 22-fight veteran only spent four fights with the UFC before his contract wasn’t renewed, but it didn’t take long for Bellator to snap him up with a contract offer. Kamaka spent the next two years competing there while amassing a 4-1 record overall with his only loss coming via split decision.
But his final fight with Bellator came at the same time as rumors started to circulate that the promotion was up for sale. Barely a month after he defeated Henry Corrales, Bellator officially sold to the PFL and Kamaka had a new home yet again.
“I had the weird UFC stint [but] I’m doing well in Bellator, picking up steam, climbing those rankings, the competition starts picking up,” Kamaka told MMA Fighting. “[I’m] kind of getting my feet under me on my athletic fighting side where the competition can step up and then boom, I’m doing well. Then I fight [Henry] Corrales, but before I fight Corrales, the rumors are coming that [Bellator] is going to sell. Eventually they sell shortly after if not at that event.
“I end up in the transition of the PFL. My competition goes up again. Bubba Jenkins, Pedro Carvalho, Brendan Loughnane, do well to where I’m the backup in the championship fight for the PFL.”
Kamaka joined the 2024 PFL season at featherweight where he went 2-1, but he fell to Loughnane in another hard-fought split decision in the semifinals.
While he appreciated the offer to serve as the backup for the final fight of the season, Kamaka ultimately had to pass on the opportunity.
“I don’t end up going to Saudi Arabia because we know the backup situation for PFL is not a good one,” Kamaka explained. “You make $10,000 for a world title fight as a backup. It just didn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially for my team.
“We’re going to go to Saudi Arabia as a backup with no other card opportunity. That’s a lot of money that we’re not making. We don’t go because they’re not giving us anymore incentive. Give us an undercard fight and we can all make this make sense to go to Saudi Arabia.”
After passing on the backup role for the PFL Finals card, Kamaka received word that the promotion was interested in bring him back for the next year but the format is changing from a regular season and playoffs to a straight up tournament. The prize money also changed with the eventual champion earning $500,000 versus the $1 million handed out for the season long format previously held by the PFL.
But the money wasn’t a deterrent that prevented Kamaka from returning to the PFL.
It was the actual contract term.
“It was like Christmas Eve, and they sent out new year contracts and just in general term it’s a three-year contract,” Kamaka revealed. “So that’s pretty long term in MMA. My pay wouldn’t go up and it was guaranteed only six fights in three years.
“I’m like I just hit my prime. My ultimate goal, much like other people, is to get back to the UFC, especially for me to rewrite that first time. I’m like I don’t know if I want to do that. It’s not life changing money to change my dreams. I’m like can we negotiate? Can we bring this term down?”
Kamaka says PFL did offer him a one-year deal for two fights, but he wouldn’t be part of the tournament.
While he was still weighing his options, Kamaka started hearing about a new upstart promotion called Global Fight League that was signing a slew of veteran fighters, most of whom built their names in the UFC.
A lot of contracts were handed out with a ton of money being promised to the athletes, but Kamaka wasn’t oblivious to the fact that GFL might end up being a pipe dream just based on the sheer amount of fighters the promotion was signing.
Still, Kamaka took a shot and ultimately signed with GFL, but he did so with his eyes wide open about the possibility that the promotion might not ever get off the ground.
“These guys are offering money,” Kamaka said. “We can do it here, make money and get back to the UFC. I can get those regional level fights at the GFL. I’m literally stepping into my prime, fighting older competition and with names. That’s a plan.”
Sadly, Kamaka’s fears were realized after GFL cancelled two debut cards planned for May with no definitive word on whether or not the events are actually going to be rescheduled. Many fighters who signed contracts with the GFL have already spoken out the whole ordeal with UFC veteran and former BKFC champion Alan Belcher calling the whole mess a “scam.”
Kamaka doesn’t disagree based on his own experience but GFL cancelling those cards once again left him without a place to fight and the months of inactivity were starting to mount.
He finally got booked at a Tuff-N-Uff card in Las Vegas where Kamaka scored a second-round knockout win over Joshua Weems in his first action in eight months.
The win combined with the tumultuous ride he’s endured ever since Bellator was sold served as the best possible motivation to convince Kamaka that he needed to get back to the UFC.
“That’s where my heart is,” Kamaka said. “That’s why I moved my family to Las Vegas. That’s your MMA moment is getting that call to the UFC. You don’t get that feeling unless it’s the UFC. You don’t get that draft day moment unless it’s the UFC.”
Truth be told, Kamaka doesn’t hold any ill will towards PFL, GFL or anybody else but deep down inside, he always knew that the longterm goal was getting back to the UFC. The way things played out over these past couple of years only strengthened his resolve.
“I’m here to bash any promotion,” Kamaka said. “Business is hard. You’ve got to make it work, but it makes it hard for us because it’s like what are we chasing?”
“My personal frustration is I want to get back to the UFC and I’m doing whatever I can to make that happen. I’m fighting the best outside [the UFC]. In Bellator, I was fighting the best level that I could.”
From the day he started fighting MMA, Kamaka always wanted to make it to the UFC and eventually earning a contract there was a dream come true.
Sadly, Kamaka’s UFC tenure only lasted four fights but now with nearly four years passed and a lot more experience on his record, he feels like he’s truly ready to go back.
“There’s no doubt about it. I always wanted to be back,” Kamaka said. “To me growing up, it’s UFC or bust. Whatever that meant, that might mean I got to LFA or the Bellator prelims, this or that, but if I just kept striving for UFC or bust [and] that just told me to be the best. Be the best version I can. Now, this business outside keeps changing and now it really is UFC or bust.”
As much as he wants to go back to the UFC, Kamaka recognizes that his return might really come down to timing and opportunity. Fighters fall off cards all the time and replacements are needed on short notice but that’s no different than how the majority of his appearances in the UFC came together anyways.
“At 25 years old, my four fights in the UFC, I had one camp,” Kamaka said. “I had one actual timed camp. A camp meant longer than four days’ notice for Tony Kelley. I had seven days’ notice for Jonathan Pearce and two weeks’ notice for Danny Chavez. I had one camp for T.J. Brown. I didn’t even have a true time in the UFC. I had a year and a half of three short notice fights.
“That mentality is right now the same coming in but now I’m much more seasoned to be doing that kind of thing. Of course this next one is probably going to come on those terms. I’ve already faced that fact. But I also have a lot more experience going into that cage, my fight IQ is way higher than what it was. That mentality is now.”
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