Paul Craig is not only famous for his black belt in jiu jitsu and 17-9-1 performance in MMA, but also because he represented culture. With ‘Braveheart’ inspired war paint on his face during weigh-ins to speaking in a thick Scottish accent, it’s a no-brainer where he comes from! ‘Bearjew’ brings a story of grit, tenacity, and Scottish pride; however, why is he so hard to understand?

He has no problems in showing his prowess through the language of fight, but when it comes to his accent, it’s mostly a question mark for people talking to him. Let’s see why.

What language does Paul Craig speak, and what is his ethnicity?

The 205 lbs star who has been going on a 3-fight losing streak is about to fight against Rodolfo Bellato, but before that, let’s take a look at his origins. He is Scottish and was born on November 27th, 1987, in the town of Airdrie, Scotland. He is proud of his roots and wears them like a trophy. You can hear it in his accent when he speaks English. Surprisingly, before he was a fighter, his work involved more talking than throwing punches. He was, in fact, a high school teacher. He also played and coached football for a nonprofit organization. He also co-hosts a podcast called Leather’d with Chris Bungard and Ross Cooper.

His journey to UFC was actually by accident when he was dragged into a jiu jitsu class by a friend. He became fluent in the art of fighting in no time and showed people his prowess through his combat skills. However, when it comes to interviews? No one seems to understand a thing about what he says.

He has shown his frustration about interviews conducted in America since they put subtitles for the fans who struggle to understand him. Speaking to Radio Scotland’s Off the Ball, he said: “Our trash-talking is tremendous, but the issue we have got is nobody can understand it. It’s a bit disrespectful when you’re still speaking English and it’s getting broadcast to the English-speaking world, and they are subtitling it because they can’t understand it.” So even though he does speak English, he has to tweak his accent so that people understand him. How does he do that? Well, he imitates a world-famous Hollywood actor and bodybuilder.

Paul Craig imitated Arnold Schwarzenegger’s accent.

We all recognise Arnie in a second as soon as he starts speaking because of his distinct accent. The Austrian superstar had to learn English, but the Austrian/German streak never really got wiped away from his diction. However, he is not difficult to understand, and Craig, the master of impressions, decided to speak like him so that people understood him better!

There was an instance where he was speaking to Nina Marie Danielle, and she admitted that she did not understand what he said. He tried to speak as clearly as possible and made her laugh. She also asked him what the most difficult word to speak in English was, he admitted that it was ‘girls’. However, Craig takes his colorful personality in stride and makes the media laugh with his impersonations.

He once did the impression of Arnie and Christopher Walken perfectly during his UFC Vegas 82 pre-fight presser. The media was pretty entertained with him switching up his accent quickly. He even got some applause from the reporters as well!

Craig knows he is hard to understand, but he knows that it’s easier to understand him when he talks like Schwarzenegger. He said so himself before UFC 209! Even Siri and Alexa have a hard time understanding his accent. Nina asked him once, “Do you use Siri?” He straight up said, “No, it doesn’t understand me.”  However, we thankfully understand his fighting game, so are you ready to see him fight soon?