Paul Craig’s maiden appearance at middleweight ended in triumph following a devastating ground and pound that flatlined Andre Muniz (14) at UFC Fight Night London.
Predominantly a light heavyweight, the Scotsman dropped down a weight class following back-to-back defeats to Johnny Walker and Volkan Oezdemir.
Craig now finds himself in an interesting position following the transition down to middleweight. He is currently ranked 9th in the light-heavyweight division where Jamahal Hill recently conceded his belt due to an ACL injury.
However, Craig has just beaten the number 14th ranked fighter at middleweight in Muniz and has created a bit of a dilemma for him and his camp.
Following his victory, the Pride of Scotland spoke with the press to discuss what weight he plans to fight at for the foreseeable future.
“We’ll take both divisions”, Craig told UFC press.
“If the fights are at light-heavyweight, we’ll take them. We have the only victory over Jamahal Hill, we have the only victory over (Magomed) Ankalaev (2) and we have beat (Nikita) Krylov too (5).”
“Ultimately, we’ve got another five years left in this company and we’re going to leave the UFC with a bit of metal- be it at middleweight or light-heavyweight, we’re coming for it.”
Craig has justified himself with those quotes. The Scot holds the accolade of handing the former champion Hill and the current number two ranked light-heavyweight in Ankalaev with their only defeats inside the Octagon.
What Craig has shown is that he isn’t one-dimensional in terms of his weight class and is more than determined to compete for silverware on both fronts within the timescale he has left in the UFC.
The latter stages of the Flying Scotsman’s tenure in the organisation looks like a promising one, with silverware as the primary agenda going forward. Craig also doesn’t care what division he needs to conquer in order to achieve his goal.
