Glendale, AZ — Paul Craig continued his 100% finish rate (excluding a draw against Shogun Rua) by defeating Jamahal Hill at UFC 263. Oh, he dislocated Hill’s arm too, which to him felt like an elephant trunk.
Craig did tell the referee that Hill’s arm was gone. Somewhat emphatically. “There was maybe a wee ‘F’ in there as well.’ The referee couldn’t see it, and I’m not sure if he was trying to tap with his arm that was broke, or if it was just flapping about, I genuinely don’t know, but it felt like an elephant’s trunk just going to town there,” Craig said to the media during his post-fight interview.
The Scottish light heavyweight did give credit to Hill for hanging in there, even with a mangled arm while eating elbows.
“We don’t see that a lot in MMA. Guys who stay in right to the wire. But I think after you’ve built up this image of being a tough guy, you need to kind of go out on your shield, don’t you? I take my hat off to him, that takes a lot of minerals to do that.”
Paul Craig believes that his strength played a big role in his win over Jamahal Hill on Saturday.
“You know, ultimately, Brian, my coach, he decided that we were going to take it to him, we were going to strike with him, which we showed we could do. We were using the front teeps to gauge distance and find the 1-2,” Craig said. “Once he got to a half-Thai clinch, Craig was thinking “‘this is quite nice. This is genuinely nice.’ And as I dragged him to the mat, it was just a matter of time before I fired up my legs. That’s one of my strong attributes.”
He continued, explaining that his strong ground game arose from a sibling rivalry.
“I’ve said in past media [appearances], that’s my brother’s cost. My brother used to beat me up as a kid. He was bigger than me then, he’s not bigger than me now. And I had to defend with my legs, and that’s how I ultimately learned to jiu-jitsu my way through life.”
Luckily for Hill, UFC President Dana White revealed following UFC 263 that the arm was not broken but dislocated.
Watch the full UFC 263 post-fight press conference with Paul Craig above.
