Paul Craig Needs To Rectify First MMA Defeat

Paul Craig walked into UFC 209 as an undefeated professional MMA fighter and he left that night with the first loss of his pro career. The fighter says he will not get over that defeat until he’s back to his winning ways.

“I don’t think I’ll get over it until I rectify my loss,” Craig told MMA Fighting. “Leading up to the fight, you see all these scenarios in your head, how you are going to combat that night and what your opponent is going to do. And then after the fight, I’m doing the exact same thing, so I don’t know how long this is going to take. I keep repeating the same stuff: What if I didn’t do this? Was it that? Was this the reason?”

It was Tyson Pedro who handed Craig the first loss of his pro MMA career. Craig is taking inspiration from UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor as he rebounds from defeat.

“When Conor McGregor lost there were loads and loads of negative stuff about him on social media. I know I would be disheartened. Even if you’re at the top of the game, it’d still get disheartening, so that stuck around and played in my head when I got the loss,” Craig said. “How do you deal with only negative criticisms? I was worried about that, but I haven’t had that. It’s been mostly people wanting to spur me on and get back there and get better, so it’s nice having the fans.”

In his UFC debut, the formerly undefeated fighter defeated Luis Henrique Da Silva at UFC On Fox 22.