A show of blood and thunder with no holds barred
IN Ultimate Fighting Championship, there are no easy ways to the top. No ducking dangerous opponents. No padding out your record with a dozen bouts against nobodies happy to head home with a loser’s purse as compensation.
If many remain unconvinced that the cage-fighting spectacle of mixed martial arts can ever challenge boxing’s hold on a captive public, you can’t deny that UFC’s brutal simplicity lends it a certain clarity. And an appeal that will be measured by the thousand when tickets for next month’s Fight Night Glasgow go on sale tomorrow.
Paul Craig, a former teacherturned-fighter and one of three Scots competing at the SSE Hydro, sums up precisely why this sport — not yet 25 years old — is stealing so much thunder from more established contact disciplines. The light heavyweight sees the contrast between boxing and MMA as straightforward. ‘Nobody in this room is unbeaten,’ said Craig, with a nod to his compatriots Stevie Ray and Joanne ‘JoJo’ Calderwood.
‘It’s not like boxing, when they’ve got 20 wins against nobodies — and suddenly they’re title contenders. UFC is like the Champions League, the best of the best from all over the world.
‘They all come into this one organisation — and this is where you want to fight. It’s not like boxing, where you have guys holding belts, boasting unbeaten records — but never having fought anyone.
‘Let’s use Floyd Mayweather as an example. He held off fighting Manny Pacquiao until Manny was past his peak.
‘A lot of boxers do that — they make calculated moves outside of the ring to prolong their careers with easier fights.
‘You’re watching Mayweather not getting hit, showing tremendous boxing skill. But something is missing.
‘Compare it to our weekend of sport, where Glover Teixeira and Alexander Gustafsson had a really explosive fight.
‘It was punch after punch. There was grappling, submission attempts.
‘That’s what makes our sport so exciting. In a click of the fingers, it can be over.
‘We saw that in the fight at the weekend. The guy just caught his opponent in the back of the ear and, boom, down he went. Those wee tiny gloves make this sport a bit mental.’
It’s not just the fingerless gloves that make UFC appear a touch unhinged to the uninitiated. Mad men, the lot of them. Mad women, too. But they are entertaining. Both in and out of the Octagon. Craig is a case in point, his life having changed after a month’s charity work in Uganda.
‘When I went to Africa, I had slight OCD. I couldn’t touch people’s hands. Couldn’t touch door handles, even. But something changes when you have to s**t in a hole.’ The rest of the story can’t really be repeated here. Fortunately, he has plenty more.
Like his first big fight at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, when he beat the hometown boy… and was then advised by his promoter not to leave the building for fear of a gang seeking revenge.
Or what happened when his high-school pupils first discovered his burgeoning mixed martial arts career.
Reflecting on the decision to go full-time as a fighter, Craig said: ‘I felt bad, because I loved my job. But I had to give it up.
‘When the kids found out I was doing MMA, without me telling them, they got more interested.
‘I stressed how hard you have to work, it’s not just two guys who are swinging their fists. You can see that on a Saturday night in Glasgow when two guys have had too many shandies.
‘I tried to explain that it’s a skilled fight. They started taking a keen interest — and even began researching opponents for me!’
Proud to say he’s from Craigneuk, Craig trains in a gym in Whifflet, which means he has occasionally bumped into Coatbridge’s finest, world boxing champ Ricky Burns.
Having first encountered Burns while the boxer was working part-time in a sports shop, despite being a world champion, Craig says he now understands why Ricky chose to do something just to break up the life of being a pro athlete.
He admitted: ‘It takes you away from being a fighter —which is the worst job in the world.
‘If any kids tell me they want to do this, I say: “Listen, do you have any idea how hard it is?”. I got in at ten last night, still had to walk the dog, make my dinner, then I’m in bed at 11 knowing I’m up again at five.
‘But I always loved sports. And I watched sports movies. I loved
Rocky, Cinderella Man — all these stories where you’re a down-and-out guy, but all you need is one shot to make it. ‘I feel like I’m in a scene from
Rocky, fighting in Glasgow in the UFC — hoping to put on a show.
‘The UFC first of all ask if you can fight at this level. Then they ask what kind of person you are.
‘Are you boring? This sport is entertainment as well. It’s not wrestling. But you need to have something that makes people want to support you.’
No fighter is popular with absolutely everyone, of course. Even in the conference room set aside for yesterday’s media event, there was at least one guy unlikely to be in Craig’s corner.
Stevie Ray, the Kirkcaldy lightweight who fought when UFC visited Glasgow for the first time two summers ago — picking up a £50,000 bonus for fight of the night — has been involved in a Twitter row with Craig that has escalated beyond just banter.
The Fifer is an established name in the UFC — just outside the top 20 in a division dominated by Conor McGregor.
He’s come a long way from his first crack at the sport, when he visited a local coach’s class, joined in training too soon after eating and ‘threw up all over the guy’s plant pots’.
From there it’s been more good than bad, far more success than disappointment. But never easy. The UFC doesn’t do easy.
Tickets for UFC FIGHT NIGHT: Nelson vs. Ponzinibbio go on sale to the general public on Friday, June 2 at 10 a.m. BST via Ticketmaster.