The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to the o2 Arena in London, England this summer on July 22, 2023, where there is no. 5 ranked heavyweight contender Tom Aspinall (12-3) shares the main event slot opposing no. 10th ranked Marcin Tebora (24-7).
Another exciting bout recently added to the lineup is at 185lbs, as Paul Craig (16-6-1) drops down to the middleweight division to face fellow wrestler. Andre Muniz (23-5).
This is an interesting match for many reasons. Who knew Paul Craig would be leaving the light heavyweight division?
Craig is one of, if not the greatest BJJ fighter in the entire UFC roster. He already has the second-most wins in lightweight history with six, and he has the most triple chokehold wins in UFC history at four.
Now he’s bringing that level of wrestling into the middleweight division, where he’ll be facing third-degree black belt in BJJ, Andre Muniz.
This Brazilian player won his first five promotional rounds, three by submission (all three ribbons). One of those came on MMA & BJJ legend Ronaldo “Jacari” Souza, becoming the first man to introduce fellow Brazilian, 6th degree black belt into your artistic mind.
However, Muniz was introduced shockingly (rear naked choke) by Brendan Allen in his most recent match earlier this year, the first time he had ever been submitted.
Craig has only been introduced once, by fellow BJJ black belt Jimmy Crute. He came into the game in a sliding battle, despite being 5-0-1 in his last six games before that, having avenged the equaliser.
Of their losses, they were both knocked out in four of them and submitted in only one; Craig lost a single decision on his resume, to Volkan Ozdemir in July of 2022.
Among their victories, this one is also quite similar; Craig finished with all 16 of his wins, 13 by submission and 3 by knockout, while Muñiz finished with 19 wins from 23 with 15 serves and 4 knockouts.
Furthermore, each of these men fought at 205 lbs., and each were champions at some point in their careers; Craig claims the BAMMA Lightweight Championship in 2015, and Muniz won the Bitetti Combat middleweight title in 2013.
Who do you see coming out on top in this epic middleweight showdown at UFC London?
If you enjoyed this piece, feel free to share it on social media!
I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was browsing channels and landed on Versus, which is where WEC was on TV. Uriah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. This is the first fight I’ve ever seen, and I got addicted to it instantly. Eventually, I started covering the sport in the last quarter of 2018, and since then I’ve started writing about animals as well. If you’d like to see these pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!