‘The’ James Krause has retired from MMA.
Krause has become one of the best fighter-turned-coaches in the sport, and on Monday, Krause appeared on The MMA Hour to discuss his fighter Brandon Moreno‘s interim title win, but when his career was brought up, he ended up retiring from the sport.
Retirement
The UFC veteran started by saying he most likely won’t fight again but then concretely said we will never see him fight in the UFC again.
“The number one problem with this sport and the fighters is that this has to come to an end at some point. It has to. And professional athletics as a whole has to come to an end. Football players don’t play until they’re 50, you know what I mean? Like this has to come to an end. And unfortunately, we don’t get to pick it most of the time. I am fortunate enough to be able to call my shot and I can say it now, you know, fu*k it, man. You’re never gonna see me fight again. I’m done with this sport. I’m at peace with it. I don’t I have no desire to fight again. I really don’t,” Krause told Ariel Helwani.
“My my desires, my fulfillment have now shifted towards coaching moments like Brandon Moreno and the rest of my team. I get fulfillment out of those. So, you can call this my offical retirement or whatever, but I do not plan on ever fighting in the UFC ever again.”
"F*** it, man. You're never going to see me fight again. I'm done with the sport. I'm at peace with it."@TheJamesKrause announces his retirement on #TheMMAHour, saying he gets fulfillment from coaching rather than fighting now.
▶️ https://t.co/kvRAwzJFU4 pic.twitter.com/k3aODhKv5k
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) August 1, 2022
Goals
Kruse has been dealing with some injuries, but he said he had accomplished his primary three goals, so there are no regrets.
“I wanted three things out of this. Whenever I call it quits, I said I wanted to be financially free. I’ve done that, to be honest with you, I would probably lose money if I fought,” Krause said. “I wanted to go out on my own terms. I didn’t want somebody to be like, ‘hey James, lost three in a row.’ And I wanted to retire in the UFC. Those are my three goals. And I wanted to go out on a win in the UFC. Right now all three of those things are accomplished.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CaAEjjxFrpZ/
Krause retires with a 28-8 record. He won Fight of the Night twice in the UFC and two Performance of the Night bonuses.
Future
The 36-year-old is the head coach at Glory MMA and will continue to coach the upcoming MMA fighters as well as unify the flyweight championship with his newer student Moreno.
