UFC star Paul Craig wants UK homecoming fight in London later this year

UFC fighter Paul Craig wants to come back to the UK for his next fight, with the rumored London fight night in September his ideal next outing.

The Scottish grappler dominated Jamahal Hill at UFC 263 on Saturday night, earning a TKO victory after a gnarly armbar that dislocated the American's elbow.

But there was controversy over the lateness of the stoppage, with referee Al Guinee refusing to stop the bout despite the fact that Hill's arm appeared to be severely injured and flopping around.

And Craig has admitted that he too feels the referee didn't do his job, not only potentially causing further damage to Hill, but also stopping him from hitting the history books.

"It's a hard job being a referee in any sport," Craig conceded during an exclusive chat with Mirror Fighting.

"But for the referee in MMA, you need to have a knowledge of holds, locks, positions, I was told after the fact that this referee had a black belt!

"If you've got a black belt you should be able to see that of the two fighters one is in a more dominant position, you have to recognise that.

"Now I know that referees are just trying to do a job and there's always an element of human error, so I can't put all the blame on him.

"The fighter has a responsibility for his own well-being as well and at any point Jamahal could have tapped and said he had enough, or his corner could have stopped it.

"But unfortunately we're in a sport where that doesn't happen too often; a cornerman flinging in the towel, but it should happen because it's about protecting him for his next fight.

"This is just one of Jamahal's many fights that are coming down the line, so to have to put damage on to him and prevent him from fighting for three months, which is how he makes his living, it's tough.

"I tried to tell the referee audibly that it was broke, once I'd seen it was just the muscles and tendons keeping the arm from just falling off I thought it was over.

"I set about some punches because that was the only way to get it done, I didn't put much behind them because I didn't want to do any damage, we needed it to be finished as soon as possible."

And after a decisive victory over one of the promotion's top prospects, Craig is eyeing up a top 10 opponent for his next outing, and wants on the reportedly near-signed UFC London event later this year.

There had been talks of an August 14 date, but it appears that due to issues around crowd capacity – the UFC will only run shows at 100% – the date will now take place in September.

"I like having a quick turnaround," Craig continued. "I want to be back as soon as I possibly can, but I want to fight in the UK because I was supposed to fight in London before the pandemic started.

"I've had good success there, I don't have to travel, ideally I'll fight in London on a card with a few other top fighters like Darren Till, Mike Grundy, Tom Aspinall, once the pandemic restrictions are relaxed.

"I've done the hard work, I've done the graft, and I want someone who's in the top 10, so someone like Volkan Oezdemir excites me, Johnny Walker stays in Ireland so it wouldn't be massive travel for him, and September would be great."

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