Paul Craig Reveals Result Of Test Middleweight Cut; Open To Facing Alex Pereira At LHW

UFC light heavyweight contender Paul Craig looks set to become a divisional double agent on mixed martial arts’ biggest stage.

Craig, who currently occupies the #9 spot at 205 pounds, recently revealed his intentions to dip his toes into the middleweight waters down the line. The plan comes off the back of consecutive losses to Volkan Oezdemir and Johnny Walker.

At the time of the announcement, “Bearjew” was in the midst of preparing to complete a test cut to 185 pounds to ensure that a drop to the lower weight is viable.

Now, the Scottish fighter has revealed how the trial went.

Middleweight Craig Open For Business

During the latest episode of the Leather’d podcast, Craig broke down the aspects of his sizable weight cut, which came as a significant change from his usual limited drop to make the light heavyweight limit.

While he admitted that the experience was by no means an enjoyable walk in the park, Craig confirmed that he not only successfully made 186 pounds but also pushed all the way down to the 185-pound championship weight.

“It’s horrible, man… I would normally diet and we’d cut, I’m talking like, a couple of kilograms, two at the absolute max. Whereas this was eight kilograms of water weight,” Craig said. “Middleweight, we were big. We were f*cking huge… (On Thursday) I done my 30-40 minute run, spent 20 minutes in the sauna, and then done a 40-minute wrap… Went to bed, slept relatively alright… Woke up about half five… fired on some sweet sweat, jumped in the bath for 20 minutes… Land on the wrap, 20 minutes in there.

“Then the nutritionist is like, ‘Nah Paul, that’s it, we’ve made it… That’s us, we’ve made the weight.’ I’m like, ‘Nah, we’ve still got an extra 0.4 to go.’ I wanted to make sure we could do it (championship weight)… What’s the point of going to the strippers and not getting a lap dance? I need to know I could do it,” Craig continued. “Jumped back in the bath, 20 minute in the bath, and we were bang on the money… Thumbs up.”

Craig went on to describe the rehydration process, which he followed to an accurate timeline before simulating ‘fight time’ with a sparring session. After detailing his increase in weight, “Bearjew” revealed that he’d returned to 217 pounds by the time he’d be fighting.

With that, middleweight Craig is ready to go. But that doesn’t mean he’s making any exclusive move to the lower weight. In fact, the Scotsman suggested that his next fight could still be at light heavyweight should the UFC wish it to be.

And if that’s the case, Craig wouldn’t mind being the one to welcome former middleweight kingpin Alex Pereira to 205 pounds.

“I’ve been speaking to my agent last night, and the questions they (UFC) asked were, ‘What do you wanna do? You wanna fight at light heavyweight or middleweight?’ I said, ‘Tell me what you want.’ Where does Mick Maynard, the matchmaker, where does he want me. I’m a company guy. Tell me who to fight and I’ll fight him.

“Now, I’m looking for a nice fight… a fight that gets my plums going. I’m looking for something that interests me fight-wise,” Craig said. “That’s a fight I’ll take at light heavyweight, a hundred percent, Pereira. I’d like that. I don’t rate his jiu-jitsu.”

“Poatan” announced his decision to move to light heavyweight following his knockout loss to Israel Adesanya last month at UFC 287.

Who? 👀 pic.twitter.com/NLJQiCVRQt

— Alex "Poatan" Pereira (@AlexPereiraUFC) May 1, 2023

Read Also: Alex Pereira Finally Asks Dana White To Book MMA Trilogy Fight Between Him And Israel Adesanya

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