Paul Craig confident of submission win over UFC star Khamzat Chimaev: ‘There’s a good chance he’d get triangle’d’
Off the back of his impressive second round win over Dana White’s Contender Series alum, Andre Muniz over the weekend at UFC London, Scottish grappler, Paul Craig has claimed he would likely land a submission win over Khamzat Chimaev, as well as calling out the undefeated, Bo Nickal.
Snapping a two-fight losing skid to both Volkan Oezdemir, and Johnny Walker, the latter of which at the beginning of the year at UFC 283 in Brazil, Craig made a middleweight divisional bow over the weekend at The O2 Arena.
And snapping his losing run, Craig, who is likely set to land a ranking in the top-15 of the middleweight division come the release of the rankings update tomorrow, forced a second round stoppage win over fellow grappling talent, Muniz, laying waste to the Brazilian with a slew of ground elbow strikes for a TKO success.
Off the back of his win, Craig welcomed the prospect of fighting recent winner, Nickal, who has so far enjoyed a stunning run throughout his brief tenure under the UFC banner.
Paul Craig plots submission win over the unbeaten, Khamzat Chimaev
And as far as a potential future pairing with the undefeated, Chimaev in the future, Craig claimed he would be confident of submitting the Chechen-born finisher if they shared the Octagon.
“Everybody in middleweight’s got an opportunity to fight me,” Paul Craig told assembled media after UFC London. “If it is Khamzat (Chimaev) and he takes me down, there’s a good chance that he’s going to get triangle’d. My Jiu-Jitsu, I never had faith in my Jiu-Jitsu and it’s starting to build up.”
“People say, ‘Paul’s got good Jiu-Jitsu,’ but you always doubt your abilities,” Paul Craig explained. “This fight here, was one of the ones where I was like, ‘Right, if I’m a Jiu-Jitsu guy, I must be able to defend and I must be able to attack and I must be able to win [this] fight.’ I’m a Jiu-Jitsu guy who is dangerous in MMA.” (Transcribed by MMA News)
As for Chimaev, the AllStars MMA staple is slated to make his return at UFC 294 in October, making a middleweight divisional return against former title chaser, Paulo Costa – whom he claimed he would make “cry’ inside the Octagon.
