“I think one of the best things about my game is I’m well-rounded,” he said. “I can grapple with him. It’s very similar to the Sergio Moraes fight. I showed I can grapple with him; he’s a four-time world champion. They’ve got a little bit different grappling styles, but I don’t feel like I’m gonna be out of place on the ground with him. But I feel I will have a big advantage striking with him, so obviously I’m gonna try to keep the fight standing, but it doesn’t matter to me one way or another if we go to the ground. I can fight well anywhere.”
As for that little devil on his shoulder that wants him to go to the ground with “Hannibal,” Krause admits he exists, but he’s got him under control.
“There’s one part that’s like, ‘Hey, let’s see who’s the better grappler,’ and I would be lying to you if I said I didn’t ever think about that, but one of the things that I think is way more cooler than finding out who the better grappler is, is winning,” he said. “I want that second check and I want the W next to my name, so I always try to put myself in the best possible chance for me to win the fight, whatever that looks like.”
A second check is always nice, a third one for a performance bonus is even better. That’s more money for Krause to invest in the future for himself and his family, and while he’s already built a nice name for himself as a fighter in this sport, what he leaves his fighters in terms of preparing them for the next step may be even more important.
“I’m not just an MMA coach,” he said. “The culture in our gym is not an MMA culture. The culture is, this is our life, this is what we do, this is us. We live this lifestyle to do this. It’s not just about fighting. There are things that go along with that that you have to understand, and to be able to operate at this level. Just like any professional sport, the window is not much. This is not a career. I know (UFC President) Dana (White) said that recently and he got a lot of flack for it. It’s not to say that you can’t make enough money within a short amount of time, but to me, a career is something you do your entire life – you retire at 50 or 60. We’re not going to be fighting when we’re 50, but if we have ten years of this in the sport, we gotta make the best out of that ten years. I’m trying to set myself up for the remaining years to come and that’s what I’m trying to help these guys with. Make these years count, make smart decisions right now that lead to where you don’t necessarily have to work if you don’t want to.”
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