Paul Craig’s recent rise to UFC light-heavyweight contendership
Scotland’s own Paul ‘Bearjew’ Craig has been making some serious waves in the UFC’s light-heavyweight division as of late.
Following an 8-0 amateur career, where he won every fight via first round submission, Paul Craig made his professional debut, where he also found immediate success.
The accomplishment is really astounding considering amateur fights are contested in three-minute rounds, and he finished everyone before the first round was up.
Craig then quickly assumed a 5-0 record inside of a two-year span once turning pro, finishing all five of those fights in the opening round as well. This saw him capture the FightStar light-heavyweight championship, before making his BAMMA debut.
‘Bearjew’ then claimed that title in his sophomore effort with the promotion, which awarded him a shot in the UFC.
By this point he was 8-0 with seven first-round finishes, the other coming just 48 seconds into round two.
A second round submission (armbar) victory would follow in his UFC debut, before losing his next two straight via late first-round knockout.
Craig then defeated Magomed Ankalaev, to our surprise, in a fight he was absolutely mauled in.
Ankalaev won 14 minutes and 50 seconds of that fight, literally, and Craig wrapped him up in a triangle choke, securing the tap at 4:59 of the third and final round, before he was submitted (kimura), again, to our surprise, by fellow BJJ black belt Jimmy Crute late in round three of their back-and-forth contest.
Next came another late stoppage, this one showing him submit (triangle choke) Kennedy Nzechukwu at 4:20 of round three.
Craig would then lose once again, this time being KO’d by then undefeated Alonzo Menifield in the opening round. He actually out-struck Menifield 21-8 in total strikes, and he was quite accurate in doing so, only throwing a total of 28.
But, the power the former collegiate football player possessed was too much for the Scot.
As you see, Craig had a been of an adjustment period once moving over to the worlds leading mixed martial arts promotion, going from 8-0 to 11-4.
Not only that, but he was losing two of those fights he won, and pulled it out with one second to go, and then 40 seconds to go in the final rounds. Had he not pulled those wins out at the last minute, and second, literally, he would’ve went 1-6 through his first seven UFC bouts.
Hell, he probably would’ve been cut prior to that point.
But, ‘Bearjew’ has as good of a rally as anyone we’ve ever seen in the sport, and he’s pulled it off time and time again.
Remember when Anderson Silva lost 23-straight minutes against Chael Sonnen the first time they fought, then submitted him at the very end? Well, Craig has made a career off of that.
Since going 3-4 through his first seven UFC appearances however, he’s gone undefeated (5-0-1) in his last six outings, avenging the draw in the process.
First, he’d submit fellow BJJ black belt Vinicius Moreira after nearly knocking him out a number of times. It’s funny, he was knocked out by Menifield at 3:19 of round one, and he finished Moreira at 3:19 of round one in back-to-back fights.
Nonetheless, he’d then battle to a draw with an absolute legend in former PRIDE & UFC champion Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, out-striking him 106-51 throughout the fight.
Craig has since won his last four-straight over the likes of Gadzhimurad Antigulov (triangle choke), Shogun Rua in their rematch (TKO), Jamahal Hill (triangle armbar), and most recently Nikita Krylov (triangle choke).
This last performance at UFC London showed him battle through some adversity, nearly getting KO’d in the opening round. Krylov’s top pressure and accurate ground-and-pound had Paul Craig fans very nervous.
However, he locked in his signature triangle choke on the second attempt and submitted the incredibly talented submission grappler.
For instance, Krylov has submitted more than half the opponents he beat, and he’s beat some pretty high level names.
Paul Craig has become one of the most entertaining talents in the entire sport. He’s either going to finish his opponent, or get finished trying. But, he hasn’t been finished in three years, and the latest man to defeat him, he’d
most likely own in a rematch.
Out of Craig’s eight UFC wins, he’s been awarded Performance of the Night in a stunning seven of them.
Going 8-0 as an amateur, becoming a two-time champion prior to joining the UFC, going 1-0 as a kickboxer, and now 16-4-1 as a professional, it’s going to be very exciting seeing where ‘Bearjew’ goes from here.
He’s also only ever been the distance one time, in his draw with Rua.
14 of his 16 victories come via submission (8 triangle chokes, 2 armbars, 1 triangle armbar, 1 D’Arce choke, 1 guillotine choke, and 1 rear naked choke), while the other two come via TKO.
Craig is also the only man to ever defeat Magomed Ankalaev and Jamahal Hill, both of which are atop the light-heavyweight division right now. He was the first man to defeat Kennedy Kzechukwu, Ankalaev has since won eight-straight fights en route to a No. 4 ranking, and Hill has since KO’d both Jimmy Crute and Johnny Walker.
Sadly for us, Craig expressed interest in retiring by age 35, which is fast approaching come this November.
On the contrary, who would you like to see Paul Craig in there with next?
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