London — Following UFC London, even Paul Craig is surprised to see opponents still wandering into his triangle unaware.
The light heavyweight, in second place for most submissions in the light heavyweight division, caught Nikita Krylov in a triangle on Saturday night at the O2 Arena, forcing the tap in a fight Craig had been losing.
“It’s wild, people still try to take me to the ground,” Craig (16-4-1) told journalists following the bout. “After seeing my back catalog, you know I’m not bad off my back in jiu-jitsu. But for some reason they’re like ‘no I can defend that, I definitely can defend that. Paul Craig’s triangle? Easy work.'”
Demian Maia and Charles Oliveira are some of Craig’s picks for the best jiu-jitsu the UFC has seen. But within the light heavyweight division, where Craig has the second most submissions, he’s of the opinion that his opponent had the best jiu-jitsu skills outside of himself.
“I thought it was Krylov. I thought Krylov was the best in our division. And he probably still is,” Craig told Cageside Press. “I just happened to beat him on the night.”
Following his fourth straight win, Craig is now hoping to see the UFC return to the UK, preferably soon. He may get his wish — Dana White said following UFC London that the promotion would return later this year.
“By having more UK, European shows, it’s only going to build the brand in this part of the world,” Craig said, stating his case for additional dates in the region. “So I am a massive advocate of pushing this. And having guys on the card like myself, like Jack Shore, like Tom Aspinall, this is what’s going to push this sport within the UK-European scene. And that’s what I want.”
Watch the full UFC London post-fight press scrum with Paul Craig above. More coverage can be found below.
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Muhammad Mokaev
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Elise Reed
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Jack Shore
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Paul Craig
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Makwan Amirkhani
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Sergei Pavlovich
