Kai Asakura will move back up to bantamweight for his next fight against Cameron Smotherman at UFC Fight Night 277 in Macau, China on May 30th.

Asakura is a former Rizin bantamweight champion who was handed an immediate flyweight title shot against Alexandre Pantoja when he joined the UFC in late 2024.

However, the 32-year-old Asakura was submitted by Pantoja in that fight, and has since gone on to be submitted by Tim Elliott as well in his only fight last year.

Next up he’ll take on his first 135lb fight in the UFC against the 28-year-old Smotherman, who also arrived in the UFC back in 2024, earning a unanimous decision win over Jake Hadley in his promotional debut.

However, Smotherman has since picked up back-to-back defeats on the scorecards against Serhiy Sidey and Ricky Simon.

Asakura vs. Smotherman joins a UFC Fight Night 277 card that will be headlined by a bantamweight fight between Song Yadong and Deiveson Figueiredo, while Zhing Mingyang vs. Alonzo Menifield and Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tallison Teixeira will also be on-board for the UFC’s latest visit to Macau.