UFC welterweight James Krause is officially done as an active competitor.
Over the latter half of his career, the Kansas City native has become more of a coach than a fighter. As the leader of Glory: MMA and Fitness in Missouri, he’s led names such as Brandon Moreno and Megan Anderson to UFC title fights.
Now, on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, James Krause has announced his retirement. The UFC welterweight noted that his enjoyment of coaching was his reason to retire. That, combined with a back injury made him hang up the gloves.
James Krause referenced being in the corner of Brandon Moreno’s title-winning performance at UFC 277 as a motivator as well. The flyweight captured interim gold with a win over Kai Kara-France last Saturday.
“This last week for me, I had a herniated disk — I have a herniated disk in my neck — and it was giving me real problems going into that [UFC 277] fight week. And I was very close to just officially saying it. It’s hard for me to [say]. This is the problem with most fighters is, it’s hard to let that go. It’s really hard to let that go. But I could tell you with almost 100 percent confidence that you guys will probably never see me fight again. And I’m good with that. I feel OK with that.” (h/t MMAFighting)
James Krause continued, “…I am done with this sport. I’m at peace with it. I have no desire to fight again. I really don’t. My desires and my fulfillment have now shifted toward coaching. Moments like Brandon Moreno and the rest of my team, I get fulfillment out of those. So you can call this my official retirement or whatever, but I do not plan on ever fighting in the UFC ever again.”
The 36-year-old has been out of the cage since a win over Claudio Silva in October 2020. The win was his seventh, in his last eight contests. The sole defeat was a controversial decision loss to Trevin Giles at UFC 247, where Krause stepped up on one-day notice.
Release the Megan Anderson nudes Krause
Do it
James Krause is calling it a career as a fighter in mixed martial arts (MMA), but he’s still keeping a very close eye on the sport he loves.
The 36-year-old Glory MMA & Fitness leading man had been majorly splitting fighter and coaching duties throughout the latter stretch of his 36-fight run. Last earning a unanimous decision win over Claudio Silva in Oct. 2020, Krause most recently helped crown a new champion when cornering Brandon Moreno this past weekend (July 31, 2022) at UFC 277 (watch highlights).
Quite the betting man, Krause put some cash down on his fighter and won big on the interim Flyweight title tilt. These days, gambling has been a huge source of income for the Newport News, Virginia native — so much so that he’d be just fine living off it.
“I bet every single card just about every fight,” Krause told MMA Fighting on The MMA Hour. “I have a Discord [server], like 2,000 members in it, we crush it. Last week, we destroyed it. I take over people’s accounts and play for them, I do pretty well. I make more money gambling on MMA than I do anything else.
“I don’t make s—t on coaching,” he laughed. “Absolutely not. I mean, if you’re talking about time, if I go out on a Wednesday to a Sunday and make 10 percent off a guy … if we’re not talking about Brandon Moreno, most of my guys are entry-level guys making 12/12 (to show/to win), 14/14. I have some guys making in the 20s but even at that, you get 10 percent of 20,000, it’s 2,000 and I’m on the road every weekend Wednesday to Sunday. It just doesn’t — no. It’s not even close.”
Krause (28-8) is no stranger to aiding fighters challenge for world titles as most notably prior to Moreno he cornered the likes of Megan Anderson and Tim Elliott. With his own career now coming to an end, it’s something he knew was an eventuality as he got more cozy in his coaching role along with injuries popping up.
Despite a successfully lengthy final run that saw him go 7-1 in his last eight appearances in the Octagon, Krause is fully content with where he’s at.
“This last week for me, I had a herniated disk — I have a herniated disk in my neck — and it was giving me real problems going into that [UFC 277] fight week,” Krause said. “And I was very close to just officially saying it. It’s hard for me to [say]. This is the problem with most fighters is, it’s hard to let that go. It’s really hard to let that go. But I could tell you with almost 100 percent confidence that you guys will probably never see me fight again. And I’m good with that. I feel okay with that.
“I’ve said this so many times, and this is the No. 1 problem with the sport and the fighters — this has to come to an end at some point. It has to,” he continued. “And professional athletics as a whole has to come to an end. Football players, they don’t play until they’re 50. This has to come to an end, and unfortunately, we don’t get to pick it. Most of the time our body gets to pick it. I am fortunate enough to be able to call my shot now, and I can say it now — s—t man, you’re never going to see me fight again. I am done with this sport. I’m at peace with it. I have no desire to fight again.”
Very good fighter, even better coach.
More…
Megan Anderson started having an affair with her coach, James Krause. It caused “Aussie & Fancy” to end because Laura Sanko is friends with Krause’s wife.
Krause’s women is a looker too. Megan might have the Clap
Well… the alleged story goes (this is all public domain info AFAIK) that as we all know Laura and Megan were best buddies and did a “Aussie & Fancy” podcast occasionally, which was entertaining and funny. Word is that Megan Anderson at some point started an affair with James Krause who was her trainer (and he is MARRIED) and Laura found out about this and told HER good buddy…who is…James Krause’s WIFE.
Laura is very Christian (apparently) and believes in the sanctity of marriage so her buddy Megan f*cking her (also friend) James Krause, who was implicilty cheating on his wife didn’t sit well with her to say the least.
Lee’s Summit, Missouri is a pretty small place, and this stuff just blew up, and …so Laura and Megan are no longer buddies.
I dunno bro, I like MMA drama as much as the next guy, but nothing says “stay the fuck away from me” like the old hover hug.
This was after the affair, so they were keeping noticeably apart for the cameras and for Krause’s wife,
Also Sanko was in the building when this pic was taken
I would rather fuck Laura Sanko than any of them (male or female).
Just keeping it real.