Breaking: Paul Craig's second middleweight bout announced against surging prospect for UFC event in November

UFC has just announced an exciting middleweight clash between former light heavyweight Paul Craig and Brendan Allen, a rising 185-pound contender.

The fight will serve as a main event for the UFC Vegas 82 card, which will be held on November 18 at the UFC Apex Facility in Enterprise, Nevada.

Paul Craig has had a peculiar run in the UFC. After building a professional record of 8-0, the Scottish fighter made his Octagon debut in December 2016 and took on Henrique da Silva in a middleweight clash.

Craig submitted his opponent via an armbar in the second round and also won a 'Performance of the Night' bonus worth $50,000 for his performance.

But after the impressive performance, 'Bear Jew' went on to lose his next two fights against Tyson Pedro and Khalil Rountree Jr. The 35-year-old bounced back with a triangle choke victory against Magomed Ankalaev, who was undefeated prior to that fight.

In his next fight, Craig suffered a submission defeat against Jimmy Crute but proceeded to score a submission victory against Kennedy Nzechukwu. The 25-year-old then suffered a knockout loss at the hands of Alonzo Menifield.

After that, 'Bear Jew' turned things around and went undefeated in his next six outings, including five victories and one draw. This got the Scottish fighter closer to a title shot, but he fell short in his next two encounters against Volkan Oezdemir and Johnny Walker.

After that, Craig decided to move down and now competes in the middleweight division.

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Where do Paul Craig and Brendan Allen stand in the UFC rankings?

Paul Craig recently made his UFC middleweight debut in July 2023 and went up against Andre Muniz in a three-round encounter. 'Bear Jew' emerged victorious in that fight with a second-round TKO.

With the victory, the 35-year-old entered the UFC middleweight rankings at the No. 13 spot.

Brendan Allen, on the other hand, is currently riding an impressive five-fight win streak in the promotion, four of which have come via submission. 'All In' is currently placed at No. 10 in the UFC middleweight rankings.

Both Craig and Allen are known submission artists as the two athletes have secured 13 victories each via submission in their careers.

So, considering they both have high-level grappling skills, it will be interesting to see who emerges victorious on fight night.