The Schmo recently interviewed Paul Craig on his YouTube channel where Paul would claim that he will take the belt off Adesanya. Craig would also give his thoughts on the current state of the middleweight and the light heavyweight divisions in the UFC.
“Bearjew” Paul Craig’s most recent outing was against Andre Muniz at UFC London where he won via a ground and pound late in round two. This win was his debut at middleweight and has since shared his desire to compete in both his new weight class and his previous division, light heavyweight.
During the interview, Craig was asked about the current state of the light heavyweight division which he described as “flat.” He went on to describe the current title picture and who should fight for the vacant title next. “I think they’re still overlooking, you know, you’ve still got Jan Blachowicz sitting there, and you’ve still got, I know he sort of lost his last fight, but you’ve still got Ankalaev. Ankalaev’s the guy that everybody’s scared of, and I was excited to see Ankalaev versus Prochazka.”
He described ‘Poatan’ Alex Periera as “a middleweight jumping up to light heavyweight” and although he beat Jan Blackowicz, “you can’t just jump the queue. So for me, it should be Akalaev versus Prochazka around about December time.”
Paul Craig is the only man in the division to have a win over Ankalaev. Likewise, he’s the only person to have beaten ex-champion Jamahal Hill who was the most recent champion before vacating the belt due to injury.
Paul Craig Gives His View On Middleweight
In relation to Strickland causing an upset against Adesanya “No, not a chance. Strickland fights with his hands down here, Izzy’ll capitalize on that and pick him apart, pick, poke, and he’ll make him look an average fighter. Whereas I think the fight we all want to see with Du Plessis, where he’s a wee bit more wilder, he kinda rumbles more you know, he steps forward with looping shots. They will work better against some like Adesanya who likes the crisp boxing, the crisp kickboxing, I think that’s his route to victory is that crazy fight, whereas I don’t think Sean Strickland’s got the minerals.”
When prompted with the middleweight division, Craig explained how “nobody’s got any Jiu Jitsu” and that there’s “only one guy who’s got the Jiu Jitsu [to beat Adesanya] you know.
If you’re gonna try and outstrike Izzy, who is a high-level striker, it’s not gonna work for you, we’ve seen him go up against some of the best strikers in his division and he’s picked and poked them apart.
Whereas I think what you need to do is, the same way Blachowicz beat him, drag him to the mat, take away his gameplan, and then submit him, and that’s my key to victory in there. So who do I thinks gonna be the guy to take the belt off him, it’s gonna be me.”
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
