Jason Witt speaks volumes of James Krause as head coach following UFC Vegas 33
I caught up with UFC welterweight talent Jason Witt, who discussed his UFC Vegas 33 victory over Bryan Barberena with me.
We talked about his success in rounds one and two, having to survive round three, why it wasn’t a rightful 10-8 round, and most importantly, he discussed the importance of having James Krause as a head coach at Glory MMA & Fitness.
“I’ve been with Krause, I wanna say, about six-seven years. I’ve known Krause for quite a long time, I trained at GrindHouse, which was before Glory (MMA & Fitness) way back in the day.
“I trained with them a little bit. Then I went from Submission Inc, which was (coached by) Bill Brown, then I went to HD MMA, which is Jason High, who I still train with to this day. And then I transitioned over to Krause probably about six years ago, somewhere around there.
“I’ve just been there ever since, and that’s been kind of life changing in every aspect of life.”
We then got into how great of a choice it’s been for Krause to take a coaching role:
“The fact that that man did not get nominated for Coach of the Year, every person on that panel is out of their fucking minds. Like, I don’t understand that. The dude’s in (Las) Vegas every single week coaching. I don’t get it, it doesn’t make any sense. At least get nominated, you (he) don’t have to win, but at least get nominated.
“I’ve met some of the coaches that’re on that list, and (they’re) fantastic coaches, but they’re nothing compared to Krause.”
I then asked Mr. Witt when he’d like to get back in there, and he responded with the following:
“I mean, soon. I gotta let some things heal up, my knees are just shredded from that damn mat. That UFC cage just murders everybody’s knees, especially grapplers and wrestlers like me.
“But yeah I’d like to fight once or twice (more) by the end of the year. I think that’d be doable and it’s only July so I got plenty of time to heal up a little bit and get back into it, and I think I’d like to add a couple more 50k bonuses to my resume too.
“I don’t wanna just be one-and-done. I want a couple, I’m trying to make some money in this game.”
He further continued: “I gotta shout out Glory MMA & Fitness, we’re a culture of winners, and that’s kind of one of the things that bred me to win that round three. I got those three guys in my corner, James Krause, Jason High, and Julian Marquez.
“Those guys really willed me, screaming at me, losing their fucking minds, just kind of going crazy in that corner to get me through that third round.”
That may be just what kept Witt going during that brutal last third of the fight.
After his Fight of the Night victory over a tough, durable veteran, who would you like to see Jason Witt face next?
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