The lineup for the UFC’s return to the world’s greatest city continues to build with the addition of a new light heavyweight matchup.
Modestas Bukauskas is set to take on Paul Craig when the UFC touches down in Paris in two months. UFC officials announced the booking Monday. UFC Fight Night 258 (ESPN+) takes place Sept. 6 at Accor Arena. This will be the fourth straight September the UFC has visited “The City of Lights” for a Fight Night event.
Craig (17-9-1 MMA, 9-9-1 UFC) is in the middle of the roughest stretch of his career. Officially, he’s dropped five of his past six fights. Less than a month ago, his fight with Rodolfo Bellator, which already had been pushed back a month, ended in a no contest when Craig landed an illegal upkick and Bellato couldn’t continue. (Bellato was widely criticized for allegedly faking the effects of the kick.)
Before that, Craig had a three-fight skid with losses to Bo Nickal Caio Borralho and Brendan Allen. Since the start of the pandemic more than five years ago, though, “The Bear Jew” has been pretty reliable when he wins. Of his five wins since 2020, four have come with post-fight bonus awards, and all have been finishes.
Bukauskas (18-6 MMA, 6-4 UFC) has been on a great run the past three or so years with seven wins in eight fights. And while none of those have come with bonus money, three have been stoppages. After he was cut loose from the UFC in his first stint with a three-fight skid, Bukauskas went to Cage Warriors and won the light heavyweight title in late 2022 to earn his way back to the big leagues.
Since then, the 31-year-old Lithuanian has gone 5-1 in the UFC, including three straight victories over Marcin Prachnio, Raffael Cerqueira and Ion Cutelaba, the latter two both coming earlier this year.
With the addition, the UFC Paris lineup now includes:
- Nassourdine Imavov vs. Caio Borralho
- Ante Delija vs. Marcin Tybura
- Modestas Bukauskas vs. Paul Craig
- Mason Jones vs. Bolaji Oki
- Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Andreas Gustafsson
- Brendson Ribeiro vs. Oumar Sy
- Shauna Bannon vs. Sam Hughes
- Yuneisy Duben vs. Kennedy Freeman
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