New Zealand's Kai Kara-France dropped a wildly entertaining decision to flyweight star Brandon Moreno on the early prelims of UFC 245 in Las Vegas.
Fighting out of City Kickboxing in Auckland, Kara-France started well, but Moreno made some crucial adjustments in the second round to take a 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 unanimous decision.
One of the most powerful punchers in the division, Kara-France rattled Moreno a couple of times in the first round, but when the Mexican started swarming and throwing high-kicks, the tide turned.
"I wanted to take the power of Kai. He throws a lot of overhands and I tried to feel it," Moreno said afterwards.
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"My boxing is amazing. I'm ready for the big stage right now. I feel on fire."
The loss is Kara-France's first defeat in four fights in the UFC after debuting with a Fight of the Night win over Elias Garcia at UFC Adelaide last year.
The 26-year-old followed that up with decision wins over Raulian Paiva at UFC 234 in Melbourne in February and Mark de la Rosa in China in August.
It took a career-best performance from Moreno - who is in his second stint with the UFC - to earn the hard-fought victory in what will be a strong contender for Fight of the Night.
Moreno and Kara-France stayed standing for the opening two minutes, with Kara-France stunning Moreno twice with a lethal straight right down the pipe.
Moreno rebounded well from some heavy shots, but most of his late-round flourishes were blocked or parried.
Outstruck in the first round, Moreno was warned by his corner about Kara-France's feints and jab, but it was the Kiwi who landed first with another right hand.
Despite getting tagged, it was Moreno who was the aggressor in the opening two minutes of the second round, walking Kara-France down on the back of a long jab and some nice work to the body.
The fifth ranked flyweight, Moreno started throwing a nice left hig-kick and following up with short punches inside.
A right uppercut was Kara-France's best shot of the round, but he was caught on the way back out as blood started dripping from his nose.
Moreno had all the momentum heading into the third, and kept throwing the left high kick. Kara-France kept blocking them, but it was clear it had started to take it's toll on the New Zealander's arms.
Moreno started showboating with two minutes left in the deciding round as Kara-France's shots didn't have the same impact as they did in the first.