James Krause returns to the Octagon later this month at UFC Fight Night Lincoln, facing Warlley Alves in a welterweight division match up.
Although Krause would eventually accept a fight with Alves, it didn’t go without some confusion from the fighter, who was originally set to battle a different foe in the Octagon.
“It was weird, I found out about it…well first I thought I got an initial fight offer with somebody else. I accepted the offer, I didn’t hear anything back for about a week. They said ‘we got to move this guy somewhere else,’ but Warlley Alvey will take it (the fight). I really wasn’t stoked about it to be honest with you, he’s a really tough opponent…he doesn’t have a huge name. It was okay, I was indifferent on it. I think that after watching it, I think it’s a fight that I can obviously (win)…we’re three weeks out now, so it’s a fight I can get excited about. He beat some really good opponents and that’s what drew me into the fight, after looking at him. He’s got some really quality wins, he beat Colby Covington…beat Alan Jouban. So, I think it’s a really good matchup for me stylistically, I’m jumping up to 170 for well…not the first time. I was at 55 for my last fight, I’m really excited to be at 170. I think that’s the key component here and at first, I wasn’t overly stoked about it. He’s a tough match up and there’s no notoriety to him, he doesn’t have a huge name. In Brazil, I’m sure he’s fairly well known, but here…not so much. He’s a tough opponent and he’s got some big wins, so after a closer look…I’m very excited to (fight him),” says Krause in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.
Krause is going to be making his UFC Welterweight Division debut in this encounter, but Krause has fought in the weight class outside of the promotion.
As far as Krause’s future in the welterweight division goes, it all depends on what happens at UFC Fight Night Lincoln.
“I’m off November and December man, I’m away from my family almost every damn weekend. I pretty much just take those months completely off, I guess if it was before the holidays, I would consider it. I know a bunch of my teammates are trying to get on it, but I don’t really have a desire to fight on the same card as them. I’d probably just be enjoying coaching and traveling, I’d probably be on the road like I always am. I don’t know man, we’ll see. I think this fight will tell a lot in terms of the future, how I feel and its not really the win or the loss that’s going to dictate that. Going into this fight and coming out of this fight, I need to feel good physically in there. I need to feel like I could hang physically…like power and strength, because I do feel like there are advantages and disadvantages for me moving into this division. I think size is indifferent, I think I’m bigger than some and smaller than some. I think the power for sure…I’m not known for a ton of power, I’ve knocked people out with my kicks, I’m not known much for my punching power. I think the punching power and the clinch are going to be in the advantage towards the bigger welterweight, but I do feel like speed and cardio is going to be in my advantage. I’m fast at 55, so I’m definitely going to be fast at 70. I tend to think a lot of these guys are going to slow down after the first round, not just Warlley…but in general I think the welterweights tend to slow after the first round. So if I can them to turn into that real tradition kickboxing sparring match, I feel like that’s somewhere I can really excel in that division. We’ll find out a lot, we’ll find all of that out depending on how he fights me and how I fight him and all of that stuff. Win, lose or draw…I think I need to answer some questions about myself physically. There’s no doubt that I will be fine, I train with Zack and Zack walks in at 200 pounds…he’s massive…I do fine against him. I do good against really good welterweights, I’m not too concerned about this. Regardless, I have this fight in front of me with three weeks out now, I have to respect Warrley as an admirable opponent and then we’ll go from there,” says Krause.
UFC Fight Night Lincoln takes place on Saturday, August 25 from the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska with Justin Gaethje and James Vick headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on Fox Sports 1.
