James Krause Continues More of the Same After 41-Second KO

Donald Cerrone and James Krause at WEC 41

Admittedly, when James Krause has had opportunities to shine on the bigger stages of MMA, things didn’t work out for one reason or another.

Losses in two WEC bouts followed by a loss in Bellator forced Krause to step back, take a year off, and re-evaluate himself.

“I think the WEC, I had two really tough fights right off the bat – which I’m not complaining about – tough fights are tough fights and I don’t mind them,” he told MMAWeekly.com. “The (Toby) Imada fight I took on short notice and cut 30 pounds for it, so I physically wasn’t there.

“People assume that you just take time off and you’re not really doing anything; that’s definitely not the case. I was working hard the whole time.”

Krause continued, “I think the main thing I’ve done is starting to have fun with it again. I had a lot of fights early and I just kind of quit having fun with it, and I just got back to that and just being myself and not worrying about politics and all that crap.”

Krause returned from his year away with a bang, knocking out Nathan Schut in just 41 seconds at Titan FC 17 this past Friday.

“I hadn’t planned on knocking him out that quick, but my game plan was perfect,” he stated. “The plan was to run from him for 30 seconds and stay away from him, feel the range and frustrate him.

“In all his fights he engages fast, so we wanted to stay away from him and find the right timing. He kept coming in a little bit closer each time, and I managed to put him out.”

Krause feels he’s matured over the last year and now intends on taking his career at a much different pace than it started out.

“I don’t want to put any pressure on myself, and I just want to take it as it comes,” he commented. “I don’t want to rush myself too much, which was my big problem with the WEC. It’s not that I wasn’t mentally prepared, but looking back on it; it was too early for me.

“You could be correct in saying I wasn’t ready for it. I’m a much better fighter now than I was then. I’m getting back on the horse and I’m getting ready to do it again and I’m in no hurry.”

After taking time off in May to get married, Krause is looking to return at mid-year and take the steps needed to face top competition.

“When I come back I would really like to fight somebody with a name: A UFC vet or an Ultimate Fighter vet and really gauge where I’m at and go from there,” he stated.

“I just want to be an exciting fighter. I’d rather lose an exciting fight than win a boring one – I really mean that. Fans want to see hard punches, exchanges and knockouts, and I want to put on those kinds of fights.”

Having reassessed the way he does things, Krause feels he’s a more mature fighter and will be all the better for it as he makes his way back to the big time.

“I want to thank Posterboy Clothing and Team Grindhouse,” he concluded. “We’ve got a lot of good guys and we all train hard and you’re going to start seeing our names pop up and people are going to start recognizing us as a really solid team in the Midwest.”