James Krause knew he had to compete on Fight Island or he wouldn’t fight again for the rest of the year.
Krause stepped up on just two weeks’ notice to fight Claudio Silva at UFC Fight Island 6. It was a fight he knew was a good stylistic matchup for him and he ended up edging out a clear-cut decision win.
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“It pretty much went exactly how I thought it would minus getting a finish,” Krause said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “I think if my knee didn’t get hurt, I would’ve got the finish. If it did hit the floor, I thought my jiu-jitsu would nullify his. I’m a black belt, too. He’s not out of my league and I didn’t think he would get me down and the striking department was a big difference.”
In the first round, Krause’s knee buckled and he immediately knew something was wrong. Yet, he kept on fighting and believes if the knee wasn’t injured he would’ve finished the fight.
“My knee being hurt was definitely a factor. I almost fell over a couple of times, there was no stability. It was really tough to put any weight on it and it was hard to get power behind the shots,” Krause explained. “It happened with like 50 seconds left in the first round and as the fight went on, especially in the third, it hurt really bad.”
Once he got back home, Krause took an ultrasound which showed a partially tore MCL. He then went for an MRI and it confirmed the tear.
Yet, for Krause, as the head coach of Glory MMA and Fitness, the injury won’t keep him out of action any longer than he would be. For the next several months he is busy coaching several of his fighters including Megan Anderson’s upcoming title fight against Amanda Nunes.
“I partially tore my MCL. I don’t think it would keep me out any longer than I would be out anyway. I don’t think it will be a factor in me able to take a fight.”
For James Krause, he also has decided to put his coaching career ahead of his fighting career so the injury is not that big of a deal for him.
“Everybody knows I put coaching before my own fighting career, I don’t care about the rankings, the title, or any of that bullsh*t,” he said. “It puts me in another win and money in my bank.
“It kind of snowballed. It got bigger faster than I thought it would. When you take on these guys and you coach these guys it is your responsibility to do so. If you are putting yourself before them, that is not very coach-like or leader-like,” Krause concluded. “Honestly, I think we got better faster than I thought we would so I must be doing something right. It is not by accident, we are very organized here. We are doing things differently than a lot of other gyms, we have a new school approach.”
Who would you like to see James Krause fight when he returns?