At 28-years old, James Krause is already considered a true veteran of the sport of mixed martial arts. The Glory MMA and Fitness fighter has been on the professional scene since 2007 and has fought for some of the world’s largest promotions including WEC, Bellator, Titan FC and now UFC.
Krause (21-5) will take on another veteran in Jorge Masvidal on the UFC 178 preliminary card.
Looking back on his seven-plus year career, Krause admits that he sometimes is in awe of where he has ended up.
“It’s pretty amazing how far. I never knew until a couple of years ago that I would be where I am,” Krause told Sucka Radio. “I’m just a kid from a small town of 5500 people, so it’s a dream come true for me to come out and represent my city here and people at my gym. So yeah, it’s amazing to kind of step back and look how far everything’s happened.”
Even though he fought for the now defunct WEC back in 2009, it took the Virginia native until 2013 to make it to the UFC. After just over three years fighting for Titan FC, Shark Fights and RFA he got the call to face Sam Stout at UFC 161. Was he surprised that it took him so long to make it to the show? His answer was, ‘Yes and No.’
“When I made it to the WEC, I wasn’t mature enough; I wasn’t ready. When I finally made it, I thought it was a little late. I thought after a couple of my wins I would have got there, but I really don’t like to look back on it. It took long enough and I think with The Ultimate Fighter kind of holding me back a little bit, I think it took a few more decisive fights for me to get signed. I’m OK with that. The journey I’m on right now, I’m really happy with where I am and even after being signed they haven’t given me any gifts that’s for sure. I’m fighting good guys and I don’t know if they love me or hate me.”
Krause feels that he is overlooked by a lot of fans even after his last outing. He is coming off a TKO victory against Jamie Varner at UFC 173, and is looking to continue on that path right into his UFC 178 fight with Masvidal.
“I was really happy with my last performance. I really want to test myself and I think I’m really good. I think I’m one of the best in the world, I know that on any given day I can beat any lightweight in the world and I feel great. I think Masvidal is a very tough opponent, probably my toughest fight to date and I’m very excited for the challenge. I’ve backed myself into a corner, I say this every fight, where I really push myself to rise to the occasion and I’m very stoked to get back in there and really see how far I can take this.”
The BJJ Brown Belt has a sneaky submission game, with his go to move the guillotine choke. He doesn’t care if guys train the choke defense or not, because he feels there is absolutely no way to train against it. Krause’s guillotine is very unorthodox and even though he has trained with Masvidal at ATT in the past, he knows that there is potential for him to get caught in it.
“I could definitely see him trying to take me down and win a round and me catching a guillotine, it won’t be the first time it’s happened, it won’t be the second or third time it’s happened. It’s my bread and butter, it’s probably my best submission, it’s something I’m very good at and it’s something I find in awkward different spots. I know he’s training the guillotine there, but my guillotine’s different, it’s not like everybody else’s. I just got done training at ATT a few months ago, we were training right next to each other and I know those guys are training the guillotine, but they don’t have anyone there that can emulate me.”
With a win over Masvidal, who is ranked at number twelve on the UFC.com rankings, Krause feels that if he is not ranked in the top ten the MMA media who are coming up with the rankings better scratch their heads.
“He’s ranked thirteen right now I believe, so I think a win over him I would like to assume puts me into the top-15. If I’m ranked in the top-15 then I need to be fighting top-15 competition, so with a win over Masvidal I would love to fight top-10 guys. I think that’s where I need to be, those are the guys I want to fight and obviously I have a tough task ahead of me, but I feel like if I don’t get a top-15 spot with a win over [Sam] Stout, [Jamie] Varner and Jorge Masvidal, I think that’s a big mistake on whoever does the rankings. If I’m not there, then who do I need to fight to get there and we’ll line that one up next.”
UFC 178 goes down this Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Nevada. You can catch the Krause vs. Masvidal fight on FOX Sports 1.