PAUL CRAIG still can’t believe he went from putting schoolchildren on the path to a better life to strangling some of the best fighters on the planet for a living.
Before arriving in the UFC in 2016, Craig used to balance his attempt to achieve maximum promotion in MMA with his day job helping to nurture the next adult generation.
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Fast forward almost eight years and the Scot is one of the most beloved fighters to ever come out of the UK and has almost 20 fights in the promotion to his name.
Craig, 36, has loved every minute of the rollercoaster ride that has been his UFC career, although he admits that part of him misses the classroom.
“I miss it,” the Airdrie killer told SunSport. “But that was a long time ago. I’ve been a fighter longer than I’ve been a teacher.
“It seems like a long time ago that I was in a classroom teaching children.”
Try as he might, Craig was ultimately unable to control his extracurricular activities.
“I remember the day the kids found out I was a fighter,” he recalled. “I never told them that I was a fighter and that I would be in the UFC.
“And I remember they found out I was a fighter, one of the kid’s older brothers said, ‘You’re a teacher, a fighter.’
“And the kids couldn’t believe it. And that’s when I told them, ‘There will come a day when I’ll be in the UFC.’”
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One of the kids in Craig’s class expressed his doubts about his ability to make it to the big show, although he later admitted he was left with egg on his face.
Craig continued: “And I remember one of them said, ‘You’ll never be in the UFC. And I said, listen, ‘I’ll be in the UFC.’
“And he texted me about a year or six months ago and said, ‘I remember you telling me you were going to be in the UFC.’”
Craig’s latest entry into the Octagon will be his 18th in just under eight years, in which he has produced some incredible moments against some of today’s top names. dogs at light heavyweight.
They are a great source of pride for the former BAMMA 205-pound champion, just as he has been a UFC mainstay for nearly a decade.
He said: “Eight years later, I made it to the UFC, stayed in the UFC and had some big wins.
“[From] until breaking Jamahal Hill’s arm or the last-second finish against [Magomed] Ankalaev or stopping [Andre] Muniz in London with elbows.”
He added: “Eighteen fights in the UFC against top-level competitors in the world of mixed martial arts – it’s mind-blowing.
“To think I was here [that long]. When I joined the UFC, I was still working as a teacher and trying to balance these two lives.
“Fast forward all these years and I’m in a much better position than I was then and I’m earning more money and my skills have improved enormously.
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“The age is increasing a little, but everything as an athlete is improving a lot.
“I want to maintain that love for the sport that I had then and that I have now.
“I believe I have until I’m around 40 years old to give up this sport.”
Craig will be back in somewhat familiar surroundings for the final chapter of his UFC story, which will be written in Rio de Janeiro.
The submission specialist faces promising middleweight Caio Borralho this Sunday morning, on the main card of UFC 301.
Borralho is undefeated in MMA’s premier promotion and on the verge of breaking into the top 15, which Craig believes the UFC is using him as a springboard for.
“The UFC is obviously taking me to Rio to suffer a loss,” he said. “They want to build Caio. I understand.
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“He’s young and I’m coming to the end of my career and he’s just starting. So they would like him to win.”
As he has done numerous times in his UFC career, Craig is relishing being the underdog and turning the tide in enemy territory – which he plans to do with his first knockout victory inside the Octagon.
He said: “I’ve built my career on surprises. When you think about Ankalaev, Kennedy Nzechukwu and Jahamal Hill, all those guys were there to beat me.
“I’ve been going into these fights to lose and every time you expect me to lose, that’s when I pull it out of the bag.
“That’s when you expect me to win, that’s when I don’t show up.
“When you expect me to lose and be an underdog, that’s when I rise to the occasion and produce my best.
“When my back is against the wall is when I do my best – and that’s what you’ll see, Caio.”
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
