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Paul Craig provocatively ran into Shogun Rua’s fists at the weigh-in ahead of their UFC 255 bout.
Craig approached Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua for their weigh-in faceoff. While Rua had his fists in the combat stance to pose for the faceoff, Craig proceeded to get right into his opponent’s face.
Resultantly, Craig first walked into Shogun’s left fist but refused to stop advancing, and then walked straight into Shogun’s right fist.
The faceoff seemed undeniably intense and could have possibly escalated to both fighters getting into a violent shoving match, akin to some of the more infamous MMA weigh-in faceoff ceremonies.
Thankfully, both athletes maintained their composure and posed for the cameras, but not before they were briefly separated from one another.
Shogun Rua was seemingly surprised by Paul Craig walking into his fists. However, after their separation, Shogun and Craig appeared to have calmed down before engaged in the face-off.
Shogun Rua vs. Paul Craig – The first fight
The first fight between former UFC light heavyweight champion Shogun Rua and Paul Craig took place in November 2019.
Their fight went the three-round distance, following which the judges declared the fight as a split draw. One judge scored it 29-28 for Rua, whereas another scored it 29-28 for Craig.
Meanwhile, the third judge scored the fight as a draw, with the said judge’s scorecards reading 28-28. The fight was therefore declared a split draw.
Additionally, the vast majority of MMA fans and experts were, akin to the judges, divided in their opinion with regard to whether Shogun or Craig had done more to win the fight.
The fight featured Shogun facing issues with Craig’s lengthy style of striking. Nevertheless, despite Craig’s dangerous BJJ skills, it was Shogun who seemed to have the edge in the grappling department in their first fight.
Shogun Rua vs. Paul Craig 2 – A fight neither can afford to lose
Both Shogun Rua and Paul Craig have competed in one fight respectively since they fought one another to a split draw.
Rua’s last fight was a three-round split decision victory over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at the UFC Fight Island 3 event in July 2020. Craig, meanwhile, most recently recorded a first-round submission victory over Gadzhimurad Antigulov at the same event.
Rua has asserted that he aims to keep winning, looking to reclaim his former glory in the light heavyweight division. This, in turn, makes a win at UFC 255 very important to Rua.
Meanwhile, Craig could move forward in the light heavyweight rankings with a win against Rua in their UFC 255 matchup.
