Coach James Krause explains five key factors to victory that he stresses to his team

Throughout the years, James Krause has shined both in and out of the cage.

Krause (28-8 MMA, 9-4 UFC), owner of Glory MMA and Fitness in Lee’s Summit, Mo., is actively competing while coaching a stable of fighters at the same time. He takes pride in his coaching job and often structures his fight schedule around those duties to make sure he’s in the corners of his fighters, which include UFC title contender Megan Anderson, rising prospect Grant Dawson and UFC former title challenger Tim Elliott.

Speaking to MMA Junkie Radio, Krause broke down the five points that he stresses and tries to instill in his team’s approach to combat.

“Organizing your game,” Krause mentioned first. “I think with organizing your game – where is your clear-cut path to victory. This is a game of odds. For example, if you put me on somebody’s back or on top of somebody, the odds of me winning that fight drastically increase, so you as a fighter, what is your path to victory and then how do we funnel everything that you do to creating that opportunity for you.

“Organizing your game, blending your techniques together. I think we’re in a sport where it’s too specific. I think people focus too much on striking and too much on wrestling and too much on grappling and my thing is I want to put them all together.”

Also on the list is an aspect that Krause thinks is often neglected, as well as the importance of how wrestling is applied in a fight.

“Clinch work,” Krause said. “I think the majority of people suck in the clinch. Just plain and simple. They suck striking, and they suck grappling. I think the clinch is one of the most underutilized positions in all of MMA, which leads to my fourth thing, which is wrestling in the cage. If I’m going against so and so that comes from a (Division I) background, they’ve been wrestling since they were 3 years old, I don’t have the time to catch up.”

He continued, “I have a very organized system on the cage, and I still see people shooting doubles and singles, driving through the cage. It’s a different type of wrestling. Wrestling on the fence and wrestling on the open mats, to me, is like ping pong and tennis. Very, very similar but very, very different at the same time. The same things don’t always work.”

Finally, Krause discussed the importance of fight IQ and decision making, referencing Elliott’s recent loss to Askar Askarov in January and how certain positions in the grappling exchanges might have cost him the fight.

Krause, who’s won seven of his past eight, is coming off a unanimous decision win over Claudio Silva at UFC on ESPN+ 38 last month, jumping in on short notice for his second straight fight.