Magomed Ankalaev put “a hole in my jaw”, says only man to beat him in MMA

Magomed Ankalaev has only one blemish on his pro MMA ledger, but the man who bested him was put through the ringer en route to earning that last-second win. In a segment put together by UFC on TNT, Paul Craig outlined certain aspects of his fight with the current UFC light heavyweight champion while collaborating on the piece with UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.

This was all done in the context of previewing things for Ankalaev’s next fight, which takes place this weekend. The Dagestan native will look to go 2-0 against Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 320 on Saturday, October 4th.

In footage shared via X user @RedCorner_MMA, Paul Craig was getting into some of the specific details of his battle with Magomed Ankalaev, as Craig said,

“For almost fourteen minutes, he imposed his will on me. He was very explosive, very strong. I remember at one point, he picked me up in a wrestling takedown and he sat me down like a father laying down a baby. I remember him and I can’t do anything about this.”

“So he was one of the hardest opponents I’ve ever had to face. I had a hole in my jaw like underneath my chin when he had clocked me. He had fractured ribs. He basically beat me up, and for the next two days I couldn’t walk because he destroyed my legs, destroyed my arms. But for that one second submission, it’s so special to me.”

Magomed Ankalaev and how the Paul Craig clash went down

Looking back to March of 2018, Magomed Ankalaev was a UFC debutant who made his octagon debut with a shiny 9-0 professional record. Craig, as he mentioned in the UFC on TNT breakdown piece for UFC 320, was looking to avoid getting his UFC walking papers as he was entering that Ankalaev clash looking to rebound from consecutive losses. Those defeats for Craig came against Tyson Pedro and Khalil Rountree.

At UFC Fight Night 127 at the 4:59 mark of the third frame of the fight, Craig secured a triangle choke that Ankalaev has recently described as the worst loss in UFC history, considering the literal last-second nature of the tapout.