UFC's Bryan Caraway clarifies inactivity comments, explains why he turned down Dodson

UFC bantamweight Bryan Caraway said he was offered a fight against John Dodson at UFC 196, but turned it down because his longtime girlfriend, Miesha Tate, was fighting for the UFC women’s bantamweight title.

Despite previously drawing heat from fighters and fans for rejecting UFC proposals, Caraway (20-7 MMA, 5-2 UFC) didn’t think twice about putting his partner first. But because of his choice, and his desire to fight highly ranked opposition, the promotion notified him he couldn’t immediately get another bout.

“I’m like, ‘I can’t fight on that night,’” he told MMAjunkie. “And they said, ‘Well, there’s no one else in the division right now, so you’re going to have to wait.’”

Recently, Caraway gave an interview in which he appeared to blame the UFC for his inactivity, telling MMAjunkie, “I don’t know what the UFC’s plan is. They’re trying to say I’m ducking people, but here I am calling out these guys, and it’s not happening.”

On Tuesday, he called back to say he had misspoken and conflated the promotion with fans and fighters who’d targeted him for ducking bouts. He didn’t mean to take aim at the UFC and was venting his frustration over not being able to fight.

“The UFC hasn’t said anything at all (about turning down bouts),” Caraway said. “I was talking about everybody else, social media wise, saying I’m ducking them. Not the UFC.”

“I should have been more specific,” he added. “I’m saying the fans and fighters are ducking people, but here I am calling other fighters out, tagging the UFC. Now, it’s up to the UFC, and I think they’re going to make it happen.”

At one point, Caraway appeared to narrow his focus toward a fight with Aljamain Sterling, whom he previously targeted as an opponent that would be beneficial to his career. But he shied away from picking one favored fighter and said he could just as easily fight Michael McDonald or Thomas Almeida, who along with Sterling are ranked above him on the UFC’s top-15 bantamweight list.

Caraway stands at No. 8 on the UFC’s list after a unanimous decision this past July over onetime UFC interim title challenger Eddie Wineland, while Sterling, McDonald and Almeida take No. 5, 6 and 7, respectively.

In his previous interview, he said he and Almeida’s camp were both open to a booking, but for reasons unknown, the bout did not materialize.

Nothing has changed for Caraway in terms of his plan for moving up in the division. Marquee names and ranked opposition are still the priority. Lately, though, he seems to have had some bad luck with timing.

In another way, he’s also risen to new heights, helping Tate earn a spectacular come from behind win over Holly Holm to claim the women’s bantamweight title.

“It’s probably the greatest moment of my life,” he told UFC cameras backstage at the March 5 pay-per-view event.

Now, he’s waiting for his own turn to take his career to the next level.

“It’s a professional problem,” he said. “I have to clarify I wasn’t bashing the UFC. I wasn’t saying, ‘They’re not giving me a fight.’ I was saying, I’m calling these guys out, they’re calling me out, let’s do it.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.