Paul Craig interested in potential fight with Alex Pereira: “I don’t rate his Jiu-Jitsu”

Scotland’s Paul Craig has expressed an interest in fighting former UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira. The 35-year-old believes it’s a favourable matchup for him given Pereira’s underdeveloped ground game.

Despite the offer from Craig, it’s unclear what division the fight would take place in, with the Airdrie native announcing he would attempt to make middleweight for his next bout following a successful test-cut earlier this month.

While Craig is confident in successfully performing at middleweight, the same can’t be said about Pereira, who’s recently teased a move to light heavyweight following his loss to Israel Adesanya at UFC 287 in Miami, Florida. The defeat to Adesanya marked the Brazilian’s second professional loss in MMA.

Paul Craig eyes Alex Pereira fight next

In the wake of back-to-back defeats to Volkan Oezdemir and Johnny Walker, Craig is now in search of a willing dance partner and discloses a fight with Pereira “gets my plumbs going”.

“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.’” Paul Craig said on the Leather’d podcast. “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 me plums going,” Paul Craig explained. ‘I’m looking for something that interests me fight-wise. That’s a fight I’ll take a light heavyweight, a hundred percent, (Alex) Pereira. I’d like that. I don’t rate his Jiu-Jitsu.”

Quotes via MMA News

Craig is currently ranked at #9 in the official light heavyweight rankings, and with a win over Oezdemir last July at UFC London, the Scot could have claimed the next shot at the championship. The jiu-jitsu specialist holds notable submission victories over current light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill and former title challenger Magomed Ankalaev.

However, now confirming a drop-down to middleweight, Craig said there were some opportunities for him at a lower weight class and put forward the idea of a fight with Sean Strickland.

What do you make of Paul Craig and his willingness to fight Alex Pereira next? Let us know in the comments!