Paul Craig has a knack for pulling victory out of the jaws of defeat. At UFC Fight Island 3, he was eating punch after punch from Gadzhimuard Antigulov, but that only led to Antigulov tapping out due to a triangle choke.

It was Antigulov who initiated the grappling as well. Craig’s skills off his back are well-documented, with a couple of miracle comeback victories late in fights. But that didn’t stop Antigulov from looking for a takedown. Once it was there, it was more of the same for Craig.

“I enjoy being on my back and this opponent was kind of the same for us,” Craig said. “His striking was very, very wild. He was very good at wrestling and that resulted in him taking me down. I am a brown belt in jiu-jitsu, but belts don’t really matter in MMA.”

Craig has made a name for himself by taking an unbalanced amount of punishment before pulling off victories. He discussed where his composure comes from.

“It comes through drilling,” Craig said. “I know where the shots will be coming from. A lot of submissions I have were set up by my opponent overreaching for a punch. It sets up a nice triangle in that empty space. I was able to get [Magomed] Ankalaev like that.”

Prior to the fight, there was a bit of a back-and-forth at the weigh-ins and some shoving. This was more of the same for Craig.

“I like to get in my opponent’s face,” Craig said. “It’s really more for the pageantry of MMA, as well as us being athletes. We still want an entertaining sport. I enjoy seeing how they act and how their emotions deal with the situation.”

With the submission victory in the rear-view mirror, Craig had his eyes set on a man who fought on the same night. That was Shogun Rua, who Paul Craig fought to a draw with in November.

“I’ve got a draw on my record and I believe it could be rectified if I had a full fight camp and if I was 100%,” Craig said. “We each had two weeks’ notice. He had a game plan for a very different opponent himself. I’m only doing this out of respect. He’s one of the greatest of all time.”

Craig is now unbeaten in his last three fights, and is looking to add a legend to his list of victims.

The post UFC Fight Island 3: Paul Craig Wants Shogun Rua After Another Triangle appeared first on Cageside Press.

Unfortunately, Francisco Trinaldo extending his win streak to three with a knockout over top European prospect Jai Herbert was overshadowed by a controversial referee stoppage at UFC Fight Island 3. Trinaldo knocked Herbert stiff with an overhand in the third round, but had to deliver a few more punches to secure the victory despite the lack of movement from Herbert.

Trinaldo did not want to follow-up on the initial knockdown, but Herb Dean let the fight continue. The Brazilian veteran gave his perspective on the situation.

“I could see that he was knocked out when he fell,” Trinaldo said. “I kind of went in and stopped. Then when Herb Dean didn’t intervene, I went there just to finish it but I think everyone saw that he was knocked out.”

The fact that Trinaldo has been such a force for a long time is a testament to his health. He’s now won 12 of his last 15 fights into his forties. He shared his tips for a long career.

“I think that the first secret is to get rest,” Trinaldo said. “Good nutrition, eating healthy. I think that’s really what makes a difference. There’s a few other secrets but I only pass that on to teammates.”

Now the next part of his career will take place up a weight class. Trinaldo missed weight by four pounds at UFC Fight Island 3 and will move to welterweight as a result. He’s ready for the transition.

“I think I’m gonna be more alive at 170,” Trinaldo said. “I’m gonna be able to train harder. Now this last week, I just focus on cutting weight. So I think I’ll be able to train until the end. I want to go ahead and call out Diego Sanchez. He’s a veteran of the sport like me.”

Sanchez is on the opposite end of the spectrum from Jai Herbert when it comes to career longevity, and Trinaldo wants more opponents like Sanchez in the future.

“I’d rather fight the veterans like I am, but I’m always open to any fight,” Trinaldo said. “Nobody wanted to fight this guy coming in and I faced him. I said I was gonna give him a warm welcome into the UFC and that’s exactly what I did.”

Trinaldo added that he expects to be in the UFC for much longer due to the move up to 170. He already called out Donald Cerrone and Mike Perry, so we’ll see what the next step is for Massaranduba.

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It’s been a great month for Tanner Boser. On June 27, he knocked out former PFL champion Philipe Lins in the first round. Then, at UFC Fight Island 3 last Saturday, he knocked out Raphael Pessoa.

In the second round, Boser hit Pessoa with a looping left hand that caused him to stagger, then turtle up along the fence. A few more blows and the fight was stopped. Boser described the finishing sequence.

“Well, I actually did feel my knuckle dig into his eye,” Boser said. “Yes, he quit. But I don’t know how much damage there is. Maybe his eyeball has damaged, maybe his orbital broke? I don’t know. He absolutely quit, but we don’t know the extent of the damage.”

What’s even more impressive, is that due to mandatory quarantine periods, Boser essentially was not able to train for this fight. It will also take away his ability to fight again until he gets a true training camp under his belt.

“I had two weeks of quarantine [after the June 27 fight] where I was seriously an absolute mess eating and drinking all the time because I was stuck in my apartment,” Boser said. “So two weeks and then I had to come here and fight. So three weeks [without training] and now it will have been four or five weeks where I haven’t actually trained at all. I have to go home and quarantine another two weeks, which is going to push this to seven weeks. Then I have to get back to the gym. I have to get back to the gym and train hard for like at least a month before I consider taking a fight.”

With that in mind, he wasn’t going to miss out on the opportunity to make it two wins in a month.

“Sometimes, man, you just gotta roll the dice,” Boser said. “Just have to go in and flip the coin. I did it smart. I didn’t come in and all I did was flip coins the entire time. I didn’t just go exchange with him. I had to fight him smart. But sometimes you got to risk it and the reward, the payoff, will be worth it. In this case, it is literally because I got paid.”

Lastly, a storyline leading up to the fight was the mystery of Tanner Boser’s fight shorts. It turns out that they were never found and the UFC provided a new pair of shorts on fight night.

“They are probably forever lost,” Boser said. “The hotel brought me a case of beer to my door at my hotel and said, Sorry, sir, for losing your shorts, we brought you a gift. So I now have four beers at my hotel room that I’m going to go and crush and you know what? I would trade my shorts for those beers every day of the week. So thank you to the hotel staff here on Yas Island.”

For these summer months, everything’s coming up Boser. It may be a little while until we see him fight again, but he’ll have a growing coalition of fans waiting for that return after scoring two knockouts in a month.

The post UFC Fight Island 3: Tanner Boser Successful After Rolling Dice appeared first on Cageside Press.

It took a short-notice fight during a global pandemic, but Jesse Ronson is finally back with the UFC. He last fought in the Octagon in 2014, falling to an exceptionally tough string of opponents in Michel Prazeres, Francisco Trinaldo, and Kevin Lee. Then, UFC Fight Island 3 marked his first victory with the promotion after submitting Nicolas Dalby in the first round.

Ronson described the feeling of not only getting the chance to fight again, but winning inside the Octagon for the first time.

“It’s like a dream come true,” Ronson told Cageside Press after the win. “I’m still waiting to wake up. Did my plane crash on the way here? Is this for real? It’s hard to explain. This is just something that I’ve learned is better than any birthday or Christmas. It feels so good. This is something that you’ve wanted your whole life and then I finally got that win and you know what? It’s not enough, I want more wins. I should have been here for the last seven years.”

It wasn’t the win that drew a lot of attention online, though, it was his callout of Luis Pena and Jalin Turner afterward paired with his disdain for tall lightweights. While this bout took place at welterweight, he’ll be heading back down to 155 next and hopefully against one of those two names.

“Tallest guy I’ve ever fought was Matt Dwyer,” Ronson said. “He was 6’5″ and that was at 170. Even still, after the fight, he beat me, but I was like, ‘Dude, man, you’re way too tall to be 170.’ I just I don’t know what it is. I got a lot of tall guys at the gym and I do really really well against tall people. The wrestling is almost negated because they have to get under me to take me down and at 6’3″ it’s hard to get under me. Their body’s just exposed all day and I can just rip the guts. I love fighting tall people.”

When it comes down to it, Pena would be the preferred opponent for him to kick out of the division.

“Luis Pena for sure,” Ronson said. “That’s the guy that comes to mind. He’s the most experienced. He’s got more fights. The other guy’s 9-5. I don’t know how he is doing in the UFC, but Luis Pena’s got more fights and I’ll take that all day.”

Ronson’s hoping to be a part of a resurgence in Canadian MMA in the wake of Georges St. Pierre’s retirement. UFC Fight Island 3 was a good start on that journey, with himself and fellow countryman Tanner Boser scoring stoppage victories.

“GSP is the face of Canada for MMA,  he’s the captain of the team,” Ronson said. “I feel like at my age, I’m the captain of the team right now. I may not be the best Canadian fighter that we got, but I definitely feel like when it comes to Canadian fighters, [I’m the] captain of the team. I bring the whole team and we’ll win, crush it, everything else.”

Ronson later clarified his “captain of the team” statement on Twitter, but the message of unity remains strong.

“It’s Team Canada all the way,” Ronson said. “Everybody’s gotta unite like they did for Conor McGregor in Ireland. You got to do that for our Canadian fighters in Canada to bring it back like we did for GSP. We can do that for everybody else.”

Jesse Ronson took full advantage of the opportunity at Fight Island and seems to be here to stay. Look out, tall fighters.

The post UFC Fight Island 3: Jesse Ronson’s Return “Better Than Christmas” appeared first on Cageside Press.

It wasn’t how he expected to return to the octagon, however.

The Russian featherweight had been expected to compete at UFC 248 back in March. Lined up with Douglas Andrade and later Jamall Emmers, Evloev himself was forced to pull out of the event due to a motorcycle accident.

“It was definitely a really bad accident. I was struck by a car,” he said of what happened that fateful day. “It was one week before my fight. But thanks to the almighty, that I was able to recover, and return, and [be] successful.”

Adding a few more details, the featherweight explained that “there were no broken bones, it was just gnarly, the road rash. And because of that I was able to recover quickly and get back into the cage.”

But thanks to that hiccup and a few other missed bouts, the undefeated fighter’s rise hasn’t been as quick as hoped, he observed.

“Relatively the rise has been slow because of the fact that I had to, you know, miss a couple of fights because of certain things and opponents that had to pull out, and my unfortunate accident,” said Evloev. “But I am always ready and if the UFC trusts me and gives me a top 15 opponent, I will prove to them and prove to everybody that I am definitely in that category.”

Evloev also addressed the depth of the UFC featherweight division after his win over Grundy.

“I am very grateful that my division has so many great names, so many great athletes,” he stated. “And I would love the opportunity face one of them in the top 15 to prove that I am in contention and I deserve to be absolutely at the very top of this division.”

The post UFC Fight Island 3: Movsar Evloev on “Gnarly” Motorcycle Accident Earlier This Year appeared first on Cageside Press.

Among those taking a full month off is Robert Whittaker, whose 5-round bout with Darren Till was deemed tough enough to warrant the suspension. Carla Esparza will also be on the shelf for a month following her close win over Marina Rodriguez. Other winners getting the full 30 days are Nathaniel Wood, Pannie Kianzad, Francisco Trinaldo, and Paul Craig.

The other major suspension of note is Peter Sobotta, who appears to have suffered an injury to his right forearm during his unanimous decision loss to Alex Oliveira. It’s unclear when that injury took place, but what is clear is that he’ll have 6 months off before returning to action. Of course, he can be cleared early should he have a clean x-ray of the injured arm.

Below is a full list of the medical suspensions for the event. All suspensions are handed down internally due to a lack of commission on Fight Island.

Robert Whittaker – 30 days
Darren Till – 30 days
Shogun Rua – 7 days
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira – 30 days
Fabricio Werdum – 7 days
Alexander Gustafsson – 30 days
Carla Esparza – 30 days
Marina Rodriguez – 30 days
Paul Craig – 30 days
Gadzhimurad Antigulov – 30 days
Alex Oliveira – 7 days
Peter Sobotta – 180 days or until clear x-ray on right forearm
Khamzat Chimaev – 7 days
Rhys McKee – 45 days
Francisco Trinaldo – 30 days
Jai Herbert – 45 days
Jesse Ronson – 7 days
Nicholas Dalby – 21 days
Tom Aspinall – 7 days
Jake Collier – 45 days
Movsar Evloev – 7 days
Mike Grundy – 180 days or until cleared by OMF
Tanner Boser – 7 days
Raphael Pessoa – 45 days
Pannie Kianzad – 30 days
Bethe Correia – 30 days
Ramazan Emeev – 7 days
Niklas Stolze – 7 days
Nathaniel Wood – 30 days
John Castaneda – 30 days

Figures originally reported by Kirik Jenness

The post UFC Fight Island 3 Medical Suspensions: Plenty of Winners Get 30 Days appeared first on Cageside Press.

Fighting twice during the promotion’s stint on Fight Island, Chimaev instantly drew comparisons to Khabib Nurmagomedov. For his dominant grappling ability, and desire to “smash” opponents.

No question, Chimaev, who trains alongside the likes to Alexander Gustafsson and Ilir Latifi in Sweden, is poised to do big things in the UFC. And following a second win in 10 days at UFC Fight Island 3, he is absolutely on the radar.

So how does that all feel? “Good, brother. Amazing,” Chimaev (8-0) told Cageside Press following the bout.

His latest performance was a first round TKO of Rhys McKee. McKee was making his promotional debut, but the British fighter is no slouch. He’d found a lot of success in Cage Warriors and BAMMA. Chimaev made minced meat out of him.

“Everything was like my coach said. Coach said take him down, smash him, beat him in the first round. I did it,” Chimaev answered when asked about how the fight played out.

Despite being only two fights into his UFC career, the broadcast booth was already talking title shot for Chimaev. Having him fight Kamaru Usman. “I’m ready for that, I want to take this belt,” Chimaev said when asked how crazy it was to have a title shot suggested so soon into his career. “I want to beat everybody. I’m ready for that. I worked hard for that. No body works like me,” he told us.

“I want to be number one in the division,” he later added.

Maybe even a second division. When it comes to middleweight, where Chimaev actually made his debut, that could be an option as well. Of course, the dangerous Israel Adesanya lurks there. “I know he’s a better striker than me,” said the fighter known as “Borz.” But wrestling, he added, well that would be another matter.

The post UFC Fight Island 3’s Khamzat Chimaev: Nobody Works Like Me appeared first on Cageside Press.

Downright disappointed. “I’m feeling good, but I’m just not happy with my performance,” he told Cageside Press following the bout. “I want to finish fights early.”

Part of the issue was the location of the bout. As positive an experience as Fight Island has been for some fighters, Emeev’s stay there added some obstacles in training. “The last four weeks I was on an island, didn’t get proper training, training partners. It’s not the same as training in the gym,” he said.

Opponent Nicolas Dalby, who came into the fight on short notice, was perhaps another factor. “I didn’t expect it to be that hard of a fight, but I guess he is a good fighter and he wanted to impress you,” Emeev opined.

And so next time out, expect a different Emeev to enter the octagon. “I’m going to change some stuff. I’m going to come to train really hard,” he promised. “My last fights, five fights, I had a decision and I really don’t want a decision next time. I want to get a stoppage for a change. I’m going to add something into my wrestling, into my kicks, punches. I’ll try my best to get the finish.”

Still, it’s hard to find fault with the former M-1 Global champ’s UFC run thus far. With the win over Dalby, Emeev (19-4) improved to 4-1 inside the octagon.

The post UFC Fight Island 3: Ramazan Emeev Not Happy with Another Decision appeared first on Cageside Press.

Speaking to media outlets in a virtual post-fight press scrum, Brazil’s Cowboy countered those expectations by saying “what really matters is to go in there and get the win.”

“It was all focus, faith, and showing that the work we did worked out,” Oliveira (22-8-1, 2NC) said of the outcome.

While the unanimous decision win wasn’t the explosive finish some may have wanted, it puts Oliveira on a two fight win streak. Which has him looking ahead to ranked opponents next. In a deep welterweight division.

“I just want to call out anyone in the top 15,” he said. “I think the UFC knows I have a lot of potential. I want to get back in the rankings.”

The Fight Island experience, meanwhile, wasn’t as foreign as you might think.

“I told my coach, there’s not going to be any fans or any crowd, so let’s go in there like it’s a training session. Like hard sparring. You just can’t make any mistakes, but it feels like training,” he explained. Beyond that, there were few obstacles.

“The weight cut was good, I like the warm weather,” Oliveira said, before adding “it’s really hot here.” With the ability to train and talk to his children back home inside the Fight Island safety zone, however, Oliveira added that he felt “really good here.”

Watch the full UFC Fight Island 3 virtual post-fight interview with Alex Oliveira above.

The post UFC Fight Island 3: Expectations or Not, Alex Oliveira Knows Winning Is Key appeared first on Cageside Press.

“The Cookie Monster” improved to 17-6 with the win, the best streak of her UFC run, and best overall since winning the women’s strawweight title to cap off The Ultimate Fighter 20 in 2014.

Following a hard-fought bout at with Marina Rodriguez that ended in a split decision, Esparza discussed hearing the announcement that she’d once again have to rely on the scorecards.

“Whenever you hear that split decision, you always get a little bit scared,” she admitted, speaking to Cageside Press and other media outlets in a virtual post-fight press scrum. “You never know how the judges are in different places. I think that’s why I was trying to go for  a few finishes this fight, with the leg locks and stuff. Because I did not want to leave it to the judges.”

“Fortunately it went my way,” she added. Still, Esparza was certain she had done enough to pick up another W. “I felt pretty confident. I didn’t think there was a doubt in my mind that I had lost the fight. That’s why it caught me a little off guard when one of the judges gave it to her.”

Esparza allows that she might have lost a round. Nothing more. And when she did find herself at a disadvantage, her experience “being in those deep waters and being in trouble” helped her through.

What’s next is a tricky question. Esparza has been vocal about wanting to fight Claudia Gadelha again. Amanda Ribas also seems to be the girl of the moment.

“Either one,” replied Esparza when asked which one she’d prefer. “I know Claudia has a fight already booked. I think Amanda Ribas is the next fight that makes sense. I haven’t really seen her fight too much, but for me, I don’t need to see someone fight. I take fights, that’s what I do.”

The good news is, there are plenty of options in the UFC’s deep 115lb weight class.

“For me, hands down, the strawweight division is the deepest division for women. If you even look at the flyweight division, how many people fighting for the title have come from our strawweight division?,” Esparza observed. “I think that just shows you how deep we are.”

Watch the full UFC Fight Island 3 virtual post-fight press scrum with Carla Esparza above.

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