Paul Craig never seemed to seek out the spotlight. Yet, he found himself squarely in it plenty of times in the UFC based purely on unforgettable performances.
Craig’s final UFC numbers won’t look that spectacular on paper. But his 9-10-1 record in the promotion belies some footnotes the Scottish fighter surely can take pride in, including three wins over future UFC champions.
Craig (17-10-1 MMA, 9-10-1 UFC) announced Saturday that his loss to Modestas Bukauskas (19-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 258 in Paris was his last. At the very end of the opening round Bukauskas, on top of Craig on the canvas, leveled him with an elbow right before the horn that put Craig out.
The 37-year-old Craig dropped six of his final seven fights, but against some of the elite in the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. Before the current skid, which included losses to former light heavyweight title challengers Volkan Oezdemir and Johnny Walker, Craig was on an enviable run.
After a split draw with former 205-pound champ and UFC Hall of Famer Mauricio Rua in 2019, the two ran it back in 2020 and Craig put “Shogun” out. His next time out, he finished future light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill. Then he finished Nikita Krylov for his third bonus in four fights.
But perhaps most impressively, Craig submitted current 205-pound champ Magomed Ankalaev with just one second left in their fight in 2018. That was the last loss on Ankalaev’s record; he won the light heavyweight title earlier this year.
Craig heads into MMA retirement with three wins over UFC champions on his ledger, a 100 percent finishing rate with 17 stoppages (13 submissions) in 17 wins, eight career post-fight bonuses in the UFC, and the most triangle choke submission wins in UFC history with four.
Check out Craig’s post-fight in-cage interview above. It was concise and humble, much the same as how Craig typically presented himself over his years in the UFC.
