Paul Craig was recently seen defeating Magomed Ankalaev by last second submission on the UFC Fight Night London preliminary card.
The win would lead to the UFC giving Craig a new four fight contract, but the fighter would have retired in he had lost to Ankalaev last weekend.
“If the UFC didn’t offer me a new contract, I wasn’t going to fight anymore,” Craig told Metro. “I’d already made that decision before the fight. When you set yourself goals, you can’t settle for second best. ... Why would I accept to fight in another promotion? Against weaker opponents? It’s not about the money for me, but it would have been for less money. I was fighting with the attitude that if I lost, then I would end my career not only as a UFC fighter, but an MMA fighter.”
Craig went 2-2-0 in his first run with the UFC, with those victories coming over the aforementioned Magomed Ankalaev and Henrique Da Silva.
A newly re-signed Craig admits that the bout against Ankalaev was a special one for him.
“You’re always anxious coming into a fight, but this one was special,” Craig said. “There was more anxiety because it was a dangerous fight and I was coming to the end of my contract. I was coming off two losses. There was the fear that my UFC dream was coming to an end. Backs against the wall, in the last second, to win a new contract.”
There is no bout announced yet for Craig now that he is still under the UFC umbrella, but that announcement could come anytime now.
