Receiving a fight offer for Tom Aspinall must be terrifying, let alone if you’d been fighting in the weight division below the talented heavyweight.
Yet that’s exactly what happened to fan-favorite light heavyweight-turned-middleweight Paul Craig, who’s recently revealed that he had once been offered a clash with the current interim heavyweight king prior to signing for the UFC.
Paul Craig returns to the octagon this weekend at UFC 301
Paul Craig returns to the UFC octagon on Saturday, May 4 on the main card of UFC 301 to face surging contender Caio Borralho.
The Scotsman is 9-7-1 in the promotion and is looking to bounce back from a frustrating submission loss to Brendan Allen in late 2023.
Meanwhile, Borralho is 5-0 in the UFC and is riding a 14-fight winning streak, having defeated Abus Magomedov via unanimous decision in his last contest.
Paul Craig reveals he was once offered fight with Tom Aspinall
Speaking to veteran MMA journalist Karyn Bryant via her official YouTube channel, fan-favorite submission specialist Paul Craig revealed that he had actually once been offered a fight with Tom Aspinall prior to signing for the UFC.
Unsurprisingly, and as the vast majority of fans would undoubtedly decide too, Craig opted not to step into the cage with the surging English heavyweight.
“They offered me a fight in the UK, they done this sort of hybrid Cage Warriors card and Tom Aspinall was on it – and they offered me to Tom Aspinall, and I was like ‘Get to yourself man, I’m not fighting [him], that guy’s a man mountain!”
“He moves like a featherweight, and he hits like a Mack truck – there is no hope in hell that you are going to get me into the octagon with him,” laughed Craig, adding that he’d already felt the power of Aspinall in training:
“Can you imagine having him on top of you?! I’ve had him on top of me in the safety of a gym where his dad’s protecting me, so you know what, I’ll pass on that one.”
‘Bearjew’ described Aspinall as the “new wave of mixed martial artists” and admitted that it’s going to take a special kind of athlete to topple Aspinall from the top of the UFC heavyweight tree:
“I think it’s going to take an absolute monster to take him off the top spot in that heavyweight division, he can do it all and it comes to that thing where; gone are the days of mixed martial artists just being good in one area.”
“He’s a striker, he’s a Muay Thai guy, he’s a boxer, he’s a wrestler, whatever it is – he’s an MMA fighter and he’s damn scary.”
‘Bearjew’ responds to opponent vowing to KO him at UFC 301
Whilst Craig certainly dodged a bullet by declining to fight Aspinall back in the day, the Scottish grappler will need to utilize all his octagon experience if he is to emerge victorious from UFC 301 this weekend.
Speaking to media, Craig responded to comments made by opponent Caio Borralho; that he’s looking for a quick knockout in front of his Brazilian home crowd on Saturday night:
“He’s no LL Cool J – he goes the distance, and I don’t go the distance, and if I do; I go out on my shield.”
Craig then teased that no matter how Borralho comes out on Saturday evening, he’ll be prepared for anything:
“If he believes that he’ll knock me out then I’ll take it but my gameplan, the one that my team has come up with, it works so well, and I have very good experience against southpaws – it’s going to be a good night to be a Paul Craig fan.”
Paul Craig takes on Caio Borralho on the main card of UFC 301, scheduled for this weekend from beautiful Brazil.