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Paul Craig is gearing up to take on Brendan Allen in a main-event middleweight bout at UFC Vegas 82. The Fight Night event is scheduled for November 18 at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The 35-year-old Scottish exclusively competed in the light heavyweight division throughout his UFC career but made the decision to drop to the 185-pound weight class in May. He marked his middleweight debut with a second-round TKO victory over Andre Muniz at the UFC London Fight Night event in July.
After securing his last win, Paul Craig initially expressed a desire to face Bo Nickal in the future. However, 'BearJew' now appears to have lost interest in a potential matchup with Nickal and has redirected his focus toward Khamzat Chimaev.
During the pre-fight media interaction, Paul Craig outlined his career path and underscored that facing Chimaev in a bout would propel him toward a title opportunity:
"Bo Nickal’s one of these guys where he’s got a bit of love. But there’s other guys in front of me who I’d love to fight. I’m 35 and eight fights [left in the contract]. I want to get as close to the title as possible. I don’t mean to be disrespectful to Bo Nickal. But if you’re not in the mix, if you’re not fighting regularly and you’re not in the top 10 and you’re not working towards getting to that belt then I don’t really want to share the octagon with you."
He added:
"I want to share the octagon with who are in that top 10 [and] top 5, guys like Khamzat Chimaev, who’s one of the best middleweights. We’ve seen skill-wise, obviously [he] put the pace in his last fight against Usman and he looks great."
Check out Craig's comments below:
Paul Craig previews his upcoming bout with Brendan Allen
Paul Craig is well aware of how his upcoming matchup with Brendan Allen looks in the analysis, yet he envisions a different outcome. Despite the considerable grappling prowess of both fighters, 'BearJew' believes he is in a fight that could take place standing up.
During the UFC Vegas 82 pre-fight interview, Craig stated:
"This is one of those battles where people say, ‘It’s going to be a grappling battle’ – I don’t believe that. I believe this battle is very much going to be a stand-up battle. Who is going to control the distance? Who is going to control the octagon? Then from that, who is going to capitalize with these heavy shots. Imposing damage, imposing will, and from that, it’ll be then ended on the ground. It’ll be won on the feet, ended on the ground."
Check out Craig's comments below (from 3:53):
