Personal 'Yoda' has helped make James Krause into a UFC success
James Krause didn't change camps. He didn’t move down a weight class. He didn't fine-tune his ground game or his boxing.
The biggest difference between Krause now and the Krause who was eliminated from "The Ultimate Fighter: Live" in 2011 has been mental. And the person who has helped him make those strides has never thrown a punch or drilled a sprawl inside an MMA gym.
"You can call him Yoda or whatever you want," Krause told FOX Sports, "but he really has changed my life."
Krause, 28, was down on his luck three years ago. Not only was he beaten in a TUF elimination fight by Justin Lawrence, never actually entering the house, but he was bouncing around from job to job back home in Kansas City. Krause just couldn’t find the right work or the right boss or the right situation.
So, he sat down with a good friend's stepfather, a man who owns a consulting firm, for advice. Not just for that, though. Krause was hoping for charity from Michael Sommers -- he wanted a job. What Sommers came back with was jarring.
"I wouldn’t ever hire you in a million years," Sommers said he told Krause.
At the time, Krause was angry and hurt, because this was someone he looked up to. But it was that conversation that led to an entire change of mindset. And Krause firmly believes he wouldn’t be fighting Jorge Masvidal at UFC 178 on Saturday in Las Vegas with a chance to become a ranked lightweight if it hadn’t happened.
Sommers said Krause wasn't a guy he could trust to get into the trenches with him, because he would "have one foot in the trench and one foot out, looking for an escape route to leave me hanging." Later that night, Krause texted Sommers and admitted he was correct -- Krause said he wouldn’t even hire himself.
From that point, Krause and Sommers developed a formal mentor-protégé relationship. The two met nearly every Friday for three hours over the course of almost two years. Krause began to come around to Sommers' principles of self-confidence and empowerment.
"It's not easy," Krause said. "It's super intense. You've gotta hear things you don't want to hear. You have to hear the truth. Sometimes you just want to break down."
But boy did Krause (21-5) see the results. He made the decision that he would be in the UFC regardless of the TUF loss and Krause won four straight in Resurrection Fighting Alliance before getting the call. In his UFC debut against Sam Stout in June 2013, he finished Stout in the third round by guillotine.
Since then, he has gone 1-1 with a first-round TKO over Jamie Varner at UFC 173 in May and a loss to Bobby Green via a body kick that Krause still argues hit him low last year. Krause will meet Masvidal, ranked No. 12 among lightweight contenders, this weekend in the biggest fight of his career up to this point.
"It's no coincidence my life has completely changed," Krause said. "This stuff doesn't happen from coincidence."
Just as important, Krause's personal life has also flourished. He now owns two gyms in the Kansas City area and has gotten married. Krause and his wife Shynel are contemplating starting a family. He's also helping out younger people as a mentor himself.
"I get a tremendous sense of personal satisfaction out of seeing him grow," Sommers said. "The greatest thing out of all of it, though, is to watch him transform from student to the teacher while remaining forever a student."
Sommers said Krause was so determined and motivated not to fail that he ended up being self-destructive.
"All I've really done is compiled the best wisdom of people over the last 100 years of what success and achievement is all about," Sommers said. "The entire focus is around what you believe and how you think."
Krause is one of his prized pupils and he'll be bringing Sommers' principles with him to the Octagon again Saturday.
"I took the things I learned from him and I applied them to fighting," Krause said. "Just confidence, believing in yourself and a lot of laws of attraction."
Maybe Krause should make his nickname "Jedi."
