Nine days ago Paul Craig was on his back, on the mat, on the receiving end of brutal punches from Nikita Krylov in front of 17,000 fans at the O2 Arena.
Many of those in attendance at UFC London thought the Scot was on the verge of a devastating defeat, but Craig’s five-fight undefeated run had been driven by a unique motivating factor that saw the light heavyweight once again slip through the clamping jaws of defeat to muster a stoppage victory against Krylov, extending that unbeaten streak to six bouts.
For Craig, the thought of his daughters having to go to school on the Monday morning with their father having been defeated was almost too much to bear.
“The youngest, Maia, is seven, so she’s still at primary school, and my oldest, Millie, is 15, so high school,” Craig tells The Independent. “Millie is dealing with adolescence, and I remember how brutal kids can be at that age. I worked in high schools as a teacher as well. The last thing I want is for them to be going to school worried about what people are saying about their dad.
“Nobody wants to hear anything nasty said about their parents, that’s horrible. And because it’s girls I’ve got, I’m a wee bit more parental with them. My girls are very proper girls and they’re sweet, so I don’t want them dealing with that sort of nonsense.
“They didn’t choose to be a part of this, they’ve kind of been thrust into it, so they have to deal with my consequences. I’ve forced them to be part of it, so I need to think about their emotions. From the age of 18, I was a dad. I’d not long left school and had a child, and I had to find my own way. Getting a job, working 9-5, going to university... I never had these options. The option for me was: You need to become the best damn dad that you could ever be.”
Paul (16-4) allayed his own fears for his daughters by submitting Krylov with a triangle choke in the first round, eliciting ecstatic celebrations from the UFC London crowd – the biggest at a sporting event in the O2 Arena’s history.
“Both Millie and Maia’s names were said on TV, so it was sweet, but my younger daughter now thinks she’s a celebrity,” says Craig, who revealed in his post-fight interview that his youngest was named after UFC legend Demian Maia. “She’s like: ‘I’m famous on Twitter and I'm on TV.’ So, I think she was dishing out autographs on Monday.”
Paul’s submission of Krylov made it four straight wins and four straight finishes for “Bearjew”, whose previous two outings were a draw with former champion Mauricio Rua and a stoppage of Vinicius Moreira.
It has clearly served the 34-year-old well to harness his worries about the wellbeing of his daughters, but it must add a pressure that threatens to stifle the Scot, I suggest – a pressure that could perhaps rival that experienced by a fighter in a title bout.
“I hate to think about them seeing me lose, but I have to,” Craig says. “It’s not embarrassment for their dad to have lost to a world level fighter in the UFC – the pinnacle of MMA. They’re still gonna be proud as long as their dad is healthy, fit and all this kind of stuff. But I use it as fuel for myself. And they’re gonna have to deal with it eventually, because nobody can go the rest of their career without feeling a loss – unless you’re Khabib [Nurmagomedov].”
Paul entered the top 10 at light heavyweight with his win at UFC London, and he has now set his sights on a top-five opponent. His plan to retire at 35 has also been reshaped by his run of victories, though his vision for the future has not.
“It's going back to normality,” Craig outlines. “I am more than happy to leave this sport and not be a millionaire, and go back to a 9-5 job. I’d be happy working in a supermarket, restaurant, factory life – that stuff wouldn’t bother me as long as I have done the absolute best I can do in MMA.
“I’ve had a really good life, I went from being a teacher to a fighter, to who knows what? But I know I won’t be going backwards; I won’t go back to teaching, because I’ve done and experienced that. The last thing I want is to take a step back in life. For me, life’s all about stepping forward and experiencing new things.”
Thoughts of a life after fighting must wait for now, however, with Craig likely one win away from a shot at the UFC light heavyweight title.
The Scot, who whispered to Krylov, “It’s over,” as the Ukrainian fought against the submission that finished him, could soon see himself in the Octagon with champion Glover Teixeira – or Jiri Prochazka, should the Pole dethrone the Brazilian in June when the pair are expected to go head-to-head.
“I really would love to fight Glover, because he’s one of the OGs in the division and his victory for the title was amazing,” Craig says. “With him, it becomes: Who’s the better practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu – the Brazilian guy or the Scottish guy? But one of the things with Glover is that if you beat a 42-year-old man, people are gonna say: ‘You never beat the best version of him.’ With Jiri, once you ride the storm a little bit and deal with his technique, it becomes a good, even fight. It’s going to be elbows, good ground work, high kicks. That would excite me more than the Glover fight.”
Perhaps Craig will soon ride that storm, but for now his focus is on “riding the wave” that embodies this period in his MMA career. It might yet culminate in a title win, but even if it ends with Craig bowing out against elite opposition, he will do what he has always done: step forward. It would be one of multiple lessons that Millie and Maia can benefit from.
“I hope they’re emotionally ready for it when they do have to experience [me losing],” Craig says.
“Hopefully by that time, I’d be able to sit and talk to them on that Sunday when I get back and help them understand that you can’t go the rest of your life without losing, but the losses are what make the wins so sweet.”
