I completely do not understand Paul Craig.

[Doctor Grudge]

I think he's very easy to understand. He has a feast or famine fighting style.

Aggressive BJJ is very hard to deal with in MMA despite what most people say, but usually at the upper levels you run into major consistency problems, which Craig has. As mentioned, Craig isn't well rounded enough to beat "lesser fighters" with consistency, which is the real mark of an elite athlete.

Being able to occasionally beat upper guys isn't as indicative as consistently beating lower guys.

 

[Motivated BJ Penn]

He went to the Ben Askren Boxing Academy

 

[Egészségére!]

Why would you pick a winner instead of just the fight to not go the distance?

...like I did for the volkan fight

Yea well I can be pretty thick headed at times

 

[Noveltymortar]

We’re just seeing what happens when a fighter does one thing amazingly well but does everything else badly. I’m not sure I recall another fighter whose spectrum of talent is so lopsided.

 

[Oldman1]

Why would you pick a winner instead of just the fight to not go the distance?

...like I did for the volkan fight

narcissist

 

[TITS]

Craig would obliterate Felder in a street fight or at the gym.

 

[spinup]

Yea never bet on a Paul Craig fight

I bet on him to win 3 times & lose 3 times & I lost all 6 times lol

He is not consistent but at least you are.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

He's got the best triangle in the history of the sport and I think some dudes just underestimate how fast he throws it up (even when he's getting hammered with ground and pound) and how quickly he cuts the angle to make it tight as fuck. Caio is cerebral so even with his level of BJJ he wasn't playing around there.

He's also very good on top so if someone who's good but has shooting instincts like Muniz shoots and ends up underneath him it's fucking terrible for them.

So yeah he's basically an IQ test, has a couple of positions where he's an absolute killer but if you do what Caio or Volkan did and just refuse to engage him there you should be alright if you're a certain level of fighter.

 

[Tatra]

He is an riddle wrapped in an enigma. An inscrutable figure.

- Tito Ortiz

 

[Safton]

He's got the best triangle in the history of the sport and I think some dudes just underestimate how fast he throws it up (even when he's getting hammered with ground and pound) and how quickly he cuts the angle to make it tight as fuck. Caio is cerebral so even with his level of BJJ he wasn't playing around there.

He's also very good on top so if someone who's good but has shooting instincts like Muniz shoots and ends up underneath him it's fucking terrible for them.

So yeah he's basically an IQ test, has a couple of positions where he's an absolute killer but if you do what Caio or Volkan did and just refuse to engage him there you should be alright if you're a certain level of fighter

I agree and while I think Caio pursued the safest path of least resistance, I genuinely think that he could have outgrappled Craig if it came down to it. I wouldn't have even been surprised if he finished him on the mat. We've seen others have success on top of Craig, temporary or otherwise.

But in deciding to do so, you are of course tempting fate and Caio recognized this.

 

[MAlexander22]

It just shows how far one can go with good BJJ and nothing else. Which is quite astounding.

 

[Doughie99]

For real though, "Bearjew" is a very unusual nickname for a Scottish submission specialist who is neither Jewish nor a bear.

He probably simply really really liked the movie 'Inglorious Basterds' and it made a lasting impression on him.

My view on Paul Craig is he has to take 6 to 12months off and completely re-invent himself. I was thinking yesterday that he should go to Thailand (alone) and spend months having intense Muay Thai instruction, live the entire Muay Thai lifestyle.
OR go to a Top level Boxing gym and spend literally 6months training boxing and punch evasion and proper movement and all that from serious professional boxing trainers. - Have a few days here and there to keep wrestling and BJJ and all that up to scratch but Paul Craig's striking is a massive weakpoint especially his hands, and especially especially his current inability to evade taking strong jabs and hooks.
He has to be humble enough and honest with himself and his own performances to look back at the tape and SEE what we can all see and take serious steps to fix it.
- Won't happen in 6 or 8 weeks, he needs months of continuous 'fight re-programming' to fix the holes in his game. The whole fight against Borralho (as a viewer) was just an exercise in WHEN Craig was gonna get caught with a solid heavy shot and end up crumpled on the mat.

 

[Doughie99]

We’re just seeing what happens when a fighter does one thing amazingly well but does everything else badly. I’m not sure I recall another fighter whose spectrum of talent is so lopsided.

Ryan Hall
Mackenzie Dern
Ben Askren
Demian Maia
Stephen Thompson

those are a few BJJ / Wrestling / Karate freaks who were / are rather one-dimensional. First 4 don't have much or any striking prowess, although Dern CAN bang quite hard, she really isn't a boxer.
Askren was fucking useless at striking and Ryan Hall will spend an entire fight spamming Imanari rolls and shooting endless takedown attempts.

 

[McGeezle]

narcissist

If you look up the fight you'll realise I was self-deprecating if anything

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

He is soooooooo slow and stiff in the striking, obviously he is very good on the ground and he is crafty with his submissions, but I never feel he is gonna go anywhere unless he can change his striking. His speed is the same as a HW.. he is incredibly slow.

Honestly he is the same speed as someone like Jake Collier (just an example) he really is, look at their fights, Craig doesn't have better hand speed at all. I don't know why he is so slow and flat footed.

 

[pamirec]

Paul Craig is the Michael Johnson of Lhw and Mw divisions.

 

[StonedLemur]

Never liked Craig much, he seems to only train BJJ and nothing else... especially not defense.

 

[StonedLemur]

He is soooooooo slow and stiff in the striking, obviously he is very good on the ground and he is crafty with his submissions, but I never feel he is gonna go anywhere unless he can change his striking. His speed is the same as a HW.. he is incredibly slow.

Honestly he is the same speed as someone like Jake Collier (just an example) he really is, look at their fights, Craig doesn't have better hand speed at all. I don't know why he is so slow and flat footed.

Only time slow and stiff is good is with the wife sir lol.

 

[marvinparsons]

A lot of guys that are one dimensional have weird wins/losses. If you go to their world they can beat you, even if you are better than them at 90% of other things in MMA.

Same way Derrick Lewis has a W over Ngannou but got 50 45d by Jailton Almeida and Palhares beat Jon Fitch, Jake Shields, then lost to Emil Weber Meek.

Dude that fought Craig was smart to not spend any time with him on the mat, even when Craig was hurt.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

The only person Craig ever outstruck was the ghost of Shogun and even then it was his grappling that won him that fight. He is plodding, unathletic, and a massive defensive liability... but his resume also reads like the Michael Johnson of the higher weight classes where he has that "X factor" to beat or lose to anyone on any given night. That being said, I think the book has been written on him and people have sort of figured him out. His durability is also getting progressively worse.

I think the UFC is no longer enamored with his novelty factor judging by the fact that they've thrown several nasty stylistic match-ups his way since going to 185. They're probably going to give him Robocop or something next, lmao. I always hoped we could see him fight Dolidze.

Love that comprison with MJ. It’s exactly for this reason I never bet on, or against Paul Craig. You never know when he’ll pull a rabbit out a hat or just shit the bed.