Paul Craig
Wants to fight:[autotag]Mauricio Rua[/autotag]
The callout: “I would love to run back a fight, and you know what fight I’d love to run back. It ended in a draw for me. It was against Shogun Rua. I had an opportunity to fight one of the greatest fighters in my division and I took that in a heartbeat. But from his point of view, he took a last-minute opponent. … so it was unfair on him as well. If both of us had a full fight camp, what would that fight look like? Could it be another legendary fight for Shogun Rua? Could I then go in the history books with Shogun Rua? That’s what I want. But Shogun Rua, as we know, tends not to have a quick turnaround, so there’s other fighters there.”
The reality: [autotag]Paul Craig[/autotag] has made no secret of his desire to rematch “Shogun before, but I’m not sure he’s going to get that chance. Rua’s star power and the fact that he’s at the tail-end of his career means he’ll likely get the opportunity to be a little more selective about his opponents, and I’m not convinced a rematch with the notoriously tricky Scot will offer him enough of an upside for him to sign to face him again.
Craig later went on to mention potential matchups against Ryan Spann and Johnny Walker, and I think both of those names represent more viable options for “The Bearjew.” On paper, Craig vs. Spann seems like an intriguing stylistic matchup and would be the one I’d book next.
Next up: One heavyweight legend targets another.