Fast facts
- Division: Featherweight (made his lightweight debut in April 2026)
- Record: 18-8-1 (2-3-1 UFC)
- Nationality: American (Hawaii)
- Team/gym: Trained since age six under his father, Kai Kamaka Jr., owner of the 808 Fight Factory in Hawaii
- Notable wins: Tony Kelley, Bubba Jenkins, Pedro Carvalho, Henry Corrales, Adli Edwards, Kevin Boehm, Dakota Hope
Kai Kamaka III was six years old when his father started teaching him martial arts. His father, Kai Kamaka Jr., owns the 808 Fight Factory in Hawaii, and the Roman numeral at the end of the son’s name tells you this is a family that hands things down. So does the rest of the family tree. His uncle, Ronal Jhun, fought in the UFC. His cousin, Ray Cooper III, is the PFL welterweight champion and works his corner. His brother Tristin caught passes as a receiver for the University of Hawaii football team.
There’s one more detail from his childhood that I can’t get past. Long before Sean Shelby was booking UFC featherweights, he was a cameraman working MMA shows in Hawaii, and that’s where Kamaka first got to know him. Somewhere in old fight footage from the islands, the man who now decides Kamaka’s opponents was pointing a lens at the cage while a kid named Kai watched.
The wrestler from Pearl City
Before the cage, there was the mat. Kamaka wrestled at Pearl City High School, took gold at the OIA conference finals and went on to win the HHSAA state championship. That earned him a wrestling scholarship to Midland University, where he finished his bachelor’s degree. Plenty of fighters leave school for the sport. Kamaka got the diploma first.
His pro career started the way most Hawaiian careers do, on local shows. He beat Anthony Reyes by unanimous decision at KOTC Mana in his debut, then submitted Nui Wheeler with a rear-naked choke in the first round at Destiny Na Koa 6. Then he lost two straight, to Andrew Natividad and Jeff Mesa. A lot of young fighters drift away after a skid like that. He came back and outpointed Rick James and Mauricio Diaz on KOTC cards, then took his act to the mainland.
Bellator gave him Shojin Miki at Bellator 213 in December 2018 and Spencer Higa at Bellator 236 a year later. He won both on the cards. On July 31, 2020, he beat Michael Stack by unanimous decision at LFA 87. Fifteen days later he was making his UFC debut on extremely short notice against Tony Kelley at UFC 252, and he won that one too, a decision that earned Fight of the Night.
Robbed, then gone
The next 11 months are the part of Kamaka’s story that should bother anybody who cares about judging. Jonathan Pearce stopped him with a TKO in Round 2 in November 2020, and that one was clean. Then came T.J. Brown at UFC on ESPN 23 in May 2021. Kamaka lost a split decision, and all 15 media members who scored the fight had him winning. Fifteen out of 15.
Three months later he stepped in for an injured Choi Doo-ho against Danny Chavez at UFC on ESPN 28. Referee deducted a point in Round 2 for an illegal groin strike, and the fight landed as a majority draw. Eleven of 13 media outlets scored it for Kamaka. By the press row’s count he was 3-1 in the UFC. The official ledger read 1-2-1, the contract was finished, and he chose free agency over waiting around for a new deal.
In fairness to the judges, the scales have tipped his way, too. When he beat Henry Corrales by split decision at Bellator 300 in October 2023, all four media scores went to Corrales. Kamaka has lived inside close fights his whole career, and close fights cut both directions.
Bellator, PFL and the long way around
He re-signed with Bellator on Sept. 28, 2021, and replaced Keoni Diggs to beat John de Jesus by decision that December. Justin Gonzales edged him in a tight split decision at Bellator 279. A bout with Akhmed Magomedov fell apart twice, once when Kamaka withdrew and once when Magomedov pulled out a week before Bellator 298. In between he stopped Kevin Boehm with a third-round TKO, outpointed Adli Edwards and got the Corrales nod.
The PFL brought him a featherweight tournament run in 2024. He beat Bubba Jenkins and Pedro Carvalho by unanimous decision, then dropped a split decision to Brendan Loughnane in the semifinals at PFL 9. A Global Fight League booking against Mike Grundy disappeared when the GFL canceled all of its events indefinitely. He went 3-1 on the independent circuit after that. MMA Junkie’s pre-event numbers put him at 10-4 since his first UFC run ended in July 2021.
That’s a fighter who earned his way back the hard way, one regional and second-tier card at a time, without a viral knockout to speed up the trip.
How he fights
The record says a lot about his style. Of the wins the books detail, only two ended early, the Wheeler choke and the Boehm TKO. Everything else went to the scorecards. Kamaka is a 15-minute fighter with a state-champion wrestling base, and that’s exactly why those split decisions mean so much to his career. When you live on the cards, a bad night from three judges can wipe out a year.
Not everyone thinks his toolkit travels. MMA Mania’s betting preview for this week argued that “Kamaka has the power to hurt Fili on the feet or the know-how to do anything on the ground against him” was something the writer couldn’t see, and picked Fili.
The second stint
The UFC brought him back for a lightweight debut against newcomer Dakota Hope at UFC Fight Night 272 on April 4, 2026. He won a split decision, naturally. Then he dropped back to featherweight for Luke Riley at UFC 329 on July 11 and lost by TKO in the first round, a slugfest that MMA Mania called a “fire-fight” before Riley stopped him on the feet. He’s 1-1 since coming home to the Octagon.
Now comes Andre Fili at
