Paul Craig to ‘carry UFC to Scotland on his back’ after Brendan Allen main event
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Paul Craig wants to use his debut main event slot this weekend to bring a UFC event back to Scotland for the first time in seven years.
Craig – nicknamed Bearjew – won in style against Andre Muniz in London back in July to reinvigorate his career at middleweight following 13 UFC bouts in the light-heavyweight division – including handing former champ Jamahal Hill his only career defeat.
Taking his record to 17-6-1 while claiming a #13 ranking at 185lbs, the 35-year-old faces surging American contender Brendan Allen (22-5) in Las Vegas on Saturday (November 18) with his full focus on winning by any means necessary – while boosting his Scottish stock.
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Speaking to Daily Star Sport before he becomes the first Scot to ever headline a UFC event, Craig said: "I love Scotland. I love everything about Scotland. I love the people in Scotland.
"The first time I fought in Scotland in the UFC (against Khalil Rountree Jr in 2017), I never had the opportunity to showcase my talents and that was down to confidence and fear.
"I wasn't able to put on my best performance. But what I want to do now is be able to bring back the UFC on my back. So they have a Scottish card as me as the headline.
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"People are coming to see me and I'm able to put on a performance and rectify that loss in Glasgow that I had all eight years ago.
"That would be the fine feather in my MMA cap but first and foremost, we have to do the business on Saturday."
Craig said in 2021 that he wanted to retire at the age of 35 before relishing in the challenge of fighting at middleweight – where he feels bigger and stronger in relation to his opponents.
Allen represents one of the hottest prospects in the division on a five-fight win streak including submissions of common opponent Andre Muniz and most recently Bruno Silva.
Craig said of his rival: "He's a very good wrestler, very good striker, very good BJJ practitioner.
"But what he doesn't have is the spirit that I've got, the ability to never quit the Scottish jujitsu I speak about and I believe that it's going to be a hard-fought victory for me."
A self-proclaimed statistics lover when it comes to his fitness, Craig has bucked the trend of fighters moving up weight classes – now sitting one big win away from the contender conversation.
He concluded: "What I've seen predominantly in sports is when people get older they move up a weight class because everything starts to slow down.
"Come Friday for the official weigh in and I'll be bang all the money and I'll be in a better shape than I was as a light heavyweight."
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The Apex event also includes a welterweight contest between Michael Morales and Jake Matthews with Chase Hooper and Jordan Leavitt facing off at lightweight.
Brit heavyweight and interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall's training partner Mick Parkin is in action against Caio Machado, with Christian Leroy Duncan facing late replacement Denis Tiuliulin.
Paul Craig takes on Brendan Allen at UFC Fight Night: Allen vs. Craig on November 18th live on TNT Sports. The preliminary card gets under way at 8pm, with the main card following at 10pm.
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