Bryan Caraway Wants To Join Miesha Tate As UFC Champion

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Bryan Caraway (21-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) spoke about the success of his girlfriend and UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, as well as his desire to challenge bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. Here are highlights:

On how people see his relationship with Tate: “Whether it’s because of Miesha Tate, my girlfriend, or not, whether people say that could be a factor, reality is reality. We’ve been together for 10 years. Whether I have more followers or less followers, or more hate because of her or not, it’s still fact. I feel like I can sell a fight on my own. But just the fact that I’m dating her and she’s the UFC world champion, I believe that’s a great story in itself. What would be a more cool story than both (in the) couple being UFC world champions in the same household? Both started training from living in an RV in the middle of the woods for almost three years to sacrifice to get to this dream to the UFC – and now she’s the UFC world champion and I’m on the cusp of fighting for the world title. What better story than that? If you love me, you hate me, you think it’s because of her, whatever …”

On why he deserves a title shot over Raphael Assuncao: “With Assuncao’s record of being out, getting injured, and not fighting all the time, yeah, he probably should have already fought for the world title several times. He’s got the resume, he’s got the wins, but you never know with him. I don’t believe Assuncao can sell that fight. Does he deserve it on paper? Did he earn that? Absolutely. But this an entertainment sport with marketing, and he’s 10 times worse than anybody. He doesn’t like doing any social media, any marketing stuff at all. He’s just silent. He’s just a very humble, respectful guy, and I don’t think he’ll be able to step up and sell that fight even though he deserves it, skillfully, if he makes it through Dillashaw.”

On how he would be a better challenger: “I’m the guy that’s going to sell that fight with Dominick Cruz. I’m the guy that makes the most sense for that fight, and I believe I’m the guy that has that awkward style. Dominick Cruz is awkward on his feet, I’m awkward on my takedowns and on the ground. He hasn’t seen the type of athlete and fighter that I am, just like I haven’t seen the type of fighter he is. That’s what I think is going to make it fireworks for the fight. We both have such unique, awkward styles. His, you can see, is a little bit more flashy. Mine’s more about pressure and more of a feel.”