PAUL CRAIG’S UFC homecoming dream was dealt a brutal knockout blow by Khalil Rountree last night.

The Airdrie light heavyweight, making just his third appearance since moving over to the franchise, was left sparked out on the canvas after just four minutes and 56 seconds in front of a stunned SSE Hydro crowd in Glasgow.

Craig received a deafening welcome from the partisan throng in the arena, a group he was part of when the UFC came to Glasgow two years ago for the very first time.

However, he never looked like competing with the man from Los Angeles who bossed the fight from the start.

Several kicks from Craig was all he could manage before a foot to the face just seconds before the bell had him off guard and tumbling to the deck. Rountree seized the opportunity with several blows to the face before the fight officials brought a halt to proceedings.

While his opponent was left to celebrate, a crestfallen Craig eventually got up and left the octagon and then the arena without speaking to his stunned support.

“It couldn’t have ended any better,” said Rountree. “I think that anybody who knows who I am, knows that I possess knockout power but they think that’s all that I possess.

“I’ve just got to keep showing what I can do and keep getting better. They’d better get me now while I’m young. I don’t have anybody specific in mind next.

“I don’t plan to be a fighter for long so I’d like to take out one of the old guys at the top and hold down one of those spots at the top of the division. Give me an old guy at the top. Flying home with a win? That’s the biggest celebration I need."

The blow comes just four months after Craig was on the wrong end of a TKO in Las Vegas to Tyson Pedro, leaving his UFC record standing at 1-2.