UFC Fight Night 164 in Sao Paolo on November 16th has seen an alteration to it’s co-main event, with Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua now fighting late replacement Paul Craig instead of Sam Alvey.
Alvey revealed recently that he’d been forced out of the high-profile fight due to suffering a broken hand, and now Scottish fighter Craig will step in to keep ‘Shogun’ in the co-main event on less than three weeks notice.
This will undoubtedly be the biggest fight of Craig’s 16-fight career so far and comes after he emerged victorious via rear-naked choke against Vinicius Moreira back in September.
However, Craig was KO’d in the first round by Alonzo Menifield in his previous fight and also has other first round losses due to strikes against Khalil Rountree and Tyson Pedro during his 4-4 UFC run.
That will undoubtedly be a big concern going up against a dangerous striker like ‘Shogun’, but Craig does have a strong submission record, accounting for all but one of his 12 career victories.
As for ‘Shogun’, the 37-year-old veteran has won four of his last five fights, defeating the likes of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Corey Anderson, Gian Villante and Tyson Pedro, though he was knocked out by Anthony Smith last year.
With Shogun vs. Craig confirmed, UFC Fight Night 164 proceeds with a card that will be headlined by Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza moving up to 205lbs against Jan Blachowicz.
