Paul Craig sees UFC headliner with Brendan Allen as 'stand-up battle'

Paul Craig has said that his upcoming fight with ranked 10 middleweight contender Brendan Allen this weekend will be 'won on the feet, ended on the ground' despite his ferocious jiu-jitsu background.

The 'Bearjew' (17-6-1) believes that while he and his opponent (22-5) are both incredibly gifted in the grappling department, he's looking to show off his striking skills when the dust settles on Saturday night (November 18).

Many fans would expect the Scotsman to simply pull guard and threaten with dangerous submissions on the mat when the two come to blows. But with an equally well-versed submission specialist, Paul predicts the main event will stay standing for the majority.

Speaking during a pre-fight press conference this week at the Apex, Craig said: "This is one of these battles where a lot of people are saying like, this is going to be a grappling battle - I don't believe that. I believe this battle's going to be very much a stand-up battle.

"Who's going to control the distance, who's going to control the octagon - and then from that, who's going to capatalise with these heavy shots. Imposing damage, imposing will and then from that it will be ended on the ground.

"So it'll be won on the feet, ended on the ground."

While Craig is confident in his hand to hand abilities, he has received criticism from other fighters in the past with regards to letting his hands go. During the presser, he was also questioned on Renato Moicano's critical analysis of his 'terrible striking' - to which he responded: "You know, when fighters or anybody gives you any criticism you obviously want to show them that they're wrong.

"But until you’ve had any of the smoke, you can't of just sit there regardless of the fighter. If you catch these hands, you’ll know how good my striking is and we’ve showed glimmers of hope in our striking and we don’t need to be a good striker.

"All we just need to be a good jiu-jitsu practitioner.

"And we’ve showcased that as a light heavyweight. We’ve beaten so many of the top grapplers in the light heavyweight division. And then we obviously beat (Andre) Muniz, who is a very high-level grappler. So when it comes to showcasing my talent, I’ve already showcased that,

"How many guys’ arms has he broken?"