His wish was granted as ‘The Brute’ will fight Paul Craig on Saturday night’s main card. Making your UFC debut on home turf, with a spot on the main card? Not a bad gig.
We caught up with Crute to talk about what this moment will mean to him, where he thinks he has an advantage over Craig and more.
UFC: It’s the week of your UFC debut. How are you feeling?
JC: I’m feeling great man, everything is going according to plan and I just can’t wait to get in there on Sunday.
UFC: How do you think your debut will compare to when you were awarded a contract on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series?
JC: I’m not sure what to expect on Sunday. I just want to go out there and get the job done. I’ll leave everything until after the fight to take it all in. I think walking out will be surreal but at the same time I’m going to block it out until the job is done.
UFC: How did you react when you found out that you were going to be on the UFC Adelaide card?
JC: It was a good feeling when they called me out for it but I was sort of expecting it because I don’t know where else they’d put me. I’m happy to be here.
UFC: Your opponent, Paul Craig, has displayed some good ground game. How do you feel you match-up and where do you think you have the advantage in this fight?
JC: I think I have a huge advantage on the feet but I also feel like I have an advantage on the ground. I know a lot of people would probably rate him over me with submissions and stuff but people forget I have a very very good jiu jitsu base. Ideally it would be to keep him on the feet but if it goes to the ground I have no problem subbing him.
UFC: What’s the Crute fighting style?
JC: I like to punch on.
UFC: What makes you a dangerous match-up for you opponents?
JC: I just feel like I can come at people from different angles. If something doesn’t work I can re-evaluate and comeback with something different. I’ll push a high-pace and I’m not scared to get in there and fight fire with fire.