Las Vegas, NV — Scotland’s Paul Craig did the unthinkable when he forced legendary light heavyweight Shogun Rua to tap to strikes at UFC 255.
Craig (14-4-1) isn’t letting it go to his head, however. “That’s just the sport of MMA. Some you win, some you lose,” he told media outlets including Cageside Press backstage at the UFC Apex.
During the fight, in a grappling exchange, Craig was the victim of an unintentional “oil check” from the PRIDE legend. While no doubt unpleasant at the time, getting a finger up the bum from Shogun will be “something ingrained in my butthole forever,” Craig joked following the bout.
Following the fight, some questioned whether Shogun is the fighter he once was. But as Craig sees it, “he’s still Shogun Rua, and he still has that one-punch knockout power.”
On the radar now are some other big names in the light heavyweight division. “I match up well with anybody in the top ten of that division, with my grappling ability,” proclaimed Craig. “Guys like Johnny Walker are a good fight for me. Very very explosive and very very wild, but I feel, stylistically, he makes mistakes, and I can capitalize on that.”
“Not only that, we’ve got Misha Cirkunov, as well,” he continued. “He’s a grappler, I think that could make an interesting fight. Normally turns into a slugfest. And then we’ve got guys like Glover Teixeira. I took out Shogun Rua. Could we get another legend out of this game?”
Only Walker is free, coming off a win back in September. Cirkunov has a fight lined up with Ryan Spann currently, while Teixeira is in the running for a title shot. So Craig may have to wait a bit — but he’s likely due for a step up in competition upon return.
Watch the full UFC 255 post-fight press conference with Paul Craig above.
