James Krause has not fought for the UFC since October 2020
James Krause has not fought for the UFC since October 2020 | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

James Krause plans to focus on coaching, but not closing the door on fighting

James Krause has not fought in more than a year. Hearing the veteran of 13 UFC fights tell it, we may never see him step onto the fighting surface again — at least not as a competitor.

"I haven't told anybody that I'm retiring, but I'm not really actively looking to fight or anything like that," Krause said on The Fighter vs. The Writer podcast. "I don't know. It's weird. I've said this quite a bit. There's three things that I wanted at the end of this whole thing.

"One, I wanted to go out on a win. Two, I wanted to go out on my terms. I didn't want to have the UFC say, 'Hey man, you've lost three in a row, we're going to cut you,' or whatever. One of those nudge, nudge things where the fighter just doesn't realize he should have been done a long time ago. We see it all the time. Lastly, I just wanted to create some financial freedom from the sport of MMA. I've done all three of those things. If I left today, all three of those things are accomplished."

Krause is coming off a win in his last bout. He defeated Claudio Silva by unanimous decision. That victory put him back in the win column after a February 2020 split-decision setback to Trevin Giles, a fight Krause took on short notice, ended a run of six consecutive wins for Krause.

While Krause is leaving the door open, he said he would be happy if his fighting resume went without another entry.

"I've always said I wanted to quit a little bit early rather than a little bit late. Once again, I'm not saying I'm done fighting but I'm also not actively looking to fight either. I don't know what that means, but if I was done today, if I never fight again, I'd be happy with what I've done as a fighter and I would be even more happy with the transition into building a team and coaching."

While Krause might not fight again, he will still be a fixture in the sport through his work as a coach at his Kansas City based gym, Glory MMA.

Krause feels that his work as a coach will sate a good deal of the hunger for competition that might cause other fighters to compete longer than they should.

"I think a lot of time what the problem is with the fighters is this is one of the hardest sports in the world to quit because they want that drug," Krause explained. "They want that highest high and they don't want to go out on the lowest low. So they're constantly seeking the drug again. For me, I'm still getting the drug. It's just I'm getting it differently now. It's an easy segue into coaching for me. I'm still heavily involved in the sport. I'm still at the fights.

"As a competitor, I'm still being fulfilled from the MMA standpoint. Honestly, more so even. You can watch me at the end of my fights. I don't smile. It's not a big deal to me. I've been fighting for 15 years and I'm not saying I'm not happy to win or anything like that, but watch me after one of my wins and then watch me after one of my people wins. It's different. I get much more fulfilled out of watching other people's success than I do my own."