Paul Craig (image via UFC/YouTube)

By FCF Staff

Following his impressive win over Andre Muniz at UFC London, Paul Craig has raised his hand for a fight with Bo Nickal.

Craig moved down to middleweight to face the contender, and finished the fight with a series of elbows in round two. The victory returned Craig to the win column, who was coming off consecutive losses to Volkan Oezdemir and Johnny Walker.

While discussing his next move with ESPN afterward, Craig (17-6-1) made it clear he’s more than willing to fight the fast-rising, Nickal (quotes via MMA Fighting).

“As a middleweight? I kind of like Bo Nickal as a fight,” Craig said. “Nobody wants to fight him. But then if he takes me down, he better be good at passing guard, because I’m very good at retaining guard.

“He’s a name. He’s a name and he can play into my game plan, where he gets in tight, takes me down, and it just fits me better. That’s one of the things we knew Andre Muniz would do. He would take us down into guard, and that’s where I do my best work. If he puts me down on my back, then I’m able to scramble, look for these triangles, look for these armbars.”

Nickal (5-0), meanwhile, is coming off a quick stoppage win over Val Woodburn at UFC 290. The decorated wrestler has gone 2-0 to date in official, UFC bouts.