Scotland’s Paul Craig made his middleweight debut at UFC London on Saturday, in a main card match-up with fellow submission specialist Andre Muniz.
Craig had long stalked the light heavyweight division, even holding a win over recent champ Jamahal Hill. But he had dropped his last two fights, to Johnny Walker and Volkan Oezdemir. Muniz, meanwhile, was looking to bounce back from a loss to Brendan Allen earlier this year.
The first round started off with both fighters landing some low kicks and trying to find their range in the striking department. Muniz threw a spinning back kick and missed, but moments later he threw it again and landed on Craig. Paul Craig was landing some solid body kicks and eventually used them to set up his head kick. Muniz landed a heavy head kick of his own late in the round, which set up the first takedown of the fight. Muniz was able to finish the first round on top. Paul Craig and Andre Muniz spent most of the first round trading tons of kicks and feeling each other out in what seemed to be a very close round.
The second round started off with Craig exploding for a takedown, putting himself in side control, and landing some good heavy shots. Muniz started to find a triangle choke but was able to escape. The two highly experienced grapplers continued to do just that, and Muniz found his way on top, landing some good ground and pound. The ref took Muniz’s position due to a blatant head clash however. Paul Craig then took advantage of the ref’s decision and took Muniz down. Craig went for some submission attempts, including a d’arce choke, but ended up in full mount, landing some nasty elbows all the way to victory.
Allow me to reintroduce myself 😤@PaulCraig gets the finish in his debut to the middleweight division 👏
[ #UFCLondon | Live on @ESPNPlus 📺 ] pic.twitter.com/1lN4kfOP8S
— UFC (@ufc) July 22, 2023
This was a highly competitive fight with two highly experienced elite grapplers, but unfortunately, it did not go Andre Muniz’s way. Craig was on a two fight skid before making his middleweight debut and he seems to have found his home at 185. Paul Craig opened up a lot of eyes in the fight, finishing one of the top guys in the division with a second round TKO.
Official Result: Paul Craig def. Andre Muniz by TKO, Round 2, 4:40
