Paul Craig has spoken out following his no-contest result against Rodolfo Bellato.
UFC veteran Paul Craig has spent the last several months preparing for his light heavyweight return against Rodolfo Bellato. Craig was initially scheduled to face Bellato at UFC Vegas 106 but Bellato withdrew from the bout due to a herpes infection.
Craig and Bellato were rescheduled at UFC Atlanta on Saturday where more drama unfolded in their fight.
In the opening round, Bellato received an illegal up-kick to the face and looked at the referee before he wildly went down to the canvas. The knocked-out Bellato was still in attack mode when approached by the referee and the fight was ruled a no-contest due to the accidental up-kick from Craig.
A lot was made of Bellato’s bizarre reaction to the illegal move, with many claiming Bellato faked being KO’ed. Justin Gaethje called Bellato ‘the biggest flop in MMA history’.
Paul Craig doesn’t think Rodolfo Bellato faked KO at UFC Atlanta
Craig and Bellato ultimately shook hands following their disappointing no-contest result in Atlanta.
Post-fight, Scotland’s Craig addressed the narrative that Bellato had ‘flopped’ after his illegal up-kick.
“A few people messaged me regarding this, and they’re saying that it looked a bit floppish, like he was maybe hamming it up,” Craig said at the UFC Atlanta post-fight press conference.
“I don’t want to think any fighter is looking for an easy way out in this sport. We’re all fighters. We’re all in the UFC, the pinnacle of our careers, and we’re looking to put on a performance.
“But I can see where people are looking at and think it looks a bit ‘floppishly’, ‘he’s maybe taking a dive…’
“I don’t really think that, but I’ll need to watch it back,” Craig added.
“It’s raw at the moment.”
Paul Craig is now on four-fight winless skid
Craig has seen better days in his 20-fight UFC career.
The UFC veteran is the only fighter to defeat Magomed Ankalaev, submitting the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion in his promotional debut back in 2018.
Craig has exchanged wins and losses since then, once going on a six-fight unbeaten streak in the light heavyweight division.
Craig eventually moved down to the middleweight division where he suffered three losses in a row to Brendan Allen, Caio Borralho and Bo Nickal.
The Scottish fighter is now winless in his last four fights and hasn’t won since July 2023.