UFC athlete & coach opens up about winning more via betting than with working in MMA

UFC veteran James Krause just announced his days as a professional mixed martial artist are over. However, despite admitting that he lost his interest in competing, he admitted he still ‘invests’ in MMA betting.

Krause joined the UFC in June 2013, winning his debut in UFC 161 against Sam Stout via a guillotine choke. After that, he stayed in the premier promotion for almost a decade, competing another 12 times and winning 8 of them.

He last appeared in the cage against Claudio Silva in October 2020, winning the bout via a unanimous decision. Despite being absent from professional MMA, he is now actively coaching other athletes like the recently-crowned interim UFC flyweight champion, Brandon Moreno.

Now while Krause used his appearance on the popular MMA show to promote his new ‘business’ it’s more interesting to consider what this means about MMA that someone who has been a fixture in a top promotion can’t even make a living from that but has to resort to these ‘scammy’ ventures.

Just last week another athlete – this time on Dana White Contender series revealed that he was betting his paycheck on himself in order to make a decent payday. Can you imagine risking brain damage for $5000?

‘The James Krause’ is so invested in betting that according to him, he’d be just fine living off it.

“I bet every single card just about every fight,” Krause told The MMA Hour.

“I have a Discord [server], like 2,000 members in it, we crush it. Last week, we destroyed it. I take over people’s accounts and play for them, I do pretty well. I make more money gambling on MMA than I do anything else.”

“I don’t make s—t on coaching,” he laughed. “Absolutely not. I mean, if you’re talking about time, if I go out on a Wednesday to a Sunday and make 10 percent off a guy …”

“if we’re not talking about Brandon Moreno, most of my guys are entry-level guys making 12/12 (to show/to win), 14/14. I have some guys making in the 20s but even at that, you get 10 percent of 20,000, it’s 2,000 and I’m on the road every weekend Wednesday to Sunday. It just doesn’t — no. It’s not even close.”

In the interview, he also announced that he has no desire to fight anymore and announced his retirement from the sport.

“This last week for me, I had a herniated disk — I have a herniated disk in my neck — and it was giving me real problems going into that [UFC 277] fight week,” Krause said.

“And I was very close to just officially saying it. It’s hard for me to [say]. This is the problem with most fighters is, it’s hard to let that go. It’s really hard to let that go. But I could tell you with almost 100 percent confidence that you guys will probably never see me fight again. And I’m good with that. I feel okay with that.”

“I’ve said this so many times, and this is the No. 1 problem with the sport and the fighters — this has to come to an end at some point. It has to,” he continued.

“And professional athletics as a whole has to come to an end. Football players, they don’t play until they’re 50. This has to come to an end, and unfortunately, we don’t get to pick it. Most of the time our body gets to pick it. ”

“I am fortunate enough to be able to call my shot now, and I can say it now — s—t man, you’re never going to see me fight again. I am done with this sport. I’m at peace with it. I have no desire to fight again.”