Athletes
Drakkar Klose Returns To His Happy Place
Following An Injury, Klose Steps Into The Octagon For The First Time Since 2022 At UFC Austin Against Joe Solecki
Do you want to be a fighter? Well, there’s a price to pay, one of them being that when you’re asked about a recent injury, like Drakkar Klose was, you cannot just discuss the latest one, but all of them.
“I had seven injuries, but this is the most severe one,” said Klose, with number seven being an ACL injury that kept him sidelined for over a year. I laugh, not at the injury, but how he can recite off the top of his head how many he’s had over the course of his career.
“It's part of the game, I guess,” he said, joining me in a chuckle. At this point, Klose can afford to do that, since he’s got a clean bill of health and is about to face Joe Solecki in Austin tomorrow. But while he was unable to capitalize on his two-fight winning streak, it was a lot of idle time for a young man not used to being idle.
Order UFC 296: Edwards vs Covington
So he made the time work for him as he began coaching at the gym of Tim Welch, coach of UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley.
“I'm blessed to start coaching,” said Klose. “He (Welch) gave me the opportunity to coach there and that kind of took my mind off the injury and the rehab and just be with the guys over there.”
It also made him look at the nuts and bolts of the fight game and take lessons he could apply to his own career.
“I think it made me a better communicator because I had to sit there and break things down,” he said. “I've never really paid attention to watching film and doing stuff like that. But now since I coach, I have to break things down, explain it, sometimes more than once. So I think I’m just communicating and seeing things better.”
MORE UFC AUSTIN: Fight By Fight Preview | Reasons To Watch | Fighters On The Rise
Take the coaching gig and add in fatherhood and the preparation for another addition to the home as he and his lady, fellow UFC fighter Cortney Casey, welcome a son in February, and well, maybe the last year and change hasn’t been that idle. And as far as the lightweight division goes, the fighters at the top at 155 pounds remain where they were, making this a perfect time for Klose to start crashing the party.
“I definitely pay attention now,” said Klose. “Before, I really didn't care, but since I'm right there, this is all or nothing for me and I just want to give these last couple years my all. So I'm definitely watching all these guys. And it's been kind of stagnant, with the same people (at the top). But you see Bobby Green, he's put some light back in his career and he's making a little run for it, so it just shows me that I still got it.”
Pretty smooth, Mr. Klose, throwing in the name of tomorrow’s co-main eventer, a fighter the Michigan native defeated in 2018. It’s one of seven wins he’s secured in the UFC since joining the roster in 2017, with only two defeats, to David Teymur and Saturday’s headliner, Beneil Dariush. The Dariush loss came in a wild fight where Klose may have been a punch or two away from victory before being stopped himself, and if he did beat the perennial lightweight contender, that would be a six-fight winning streak for the 35-year-old. Of course, what ifs and a metro card get you on a train in New York City, but the point is that Klose has proven he can hang with the big dogs and as 2023 closes, he may be a win away from the biggest year of his career in 2024.
Closing Out The 2023 With A Bang
“I'm a big believer that everything happens at the right time, and sometimes, if you try to rush it, it doesn't happen,” Klose said. “So I think everything's starting to line up perfectly for me, and I just got to go out there and prove it to everyone and get the win. I know Joe is a tough guy, but I don't think he's a true mixed martial artist. He's just more of a grappler. So I think it's easier to plan for this fight. He's not really going to strike, so I just have to be patient with him and just go slow and match his pace.”
And get the W – no mess, no fuss, no bad blood – just two of the good guys of the sport fighting each other for 15 minutes or less. And that’s okay with Klose.
Drakkar Klose TKOs Jenkins | UFC Fight Night: Luque vs Muhammad 2
Unlock MORE of your inner combat sports fan with UFC Fight Pass! Fighting is what we live for. And no one brings you MORE live fights, new shows, and events across multiple combat sports from around the world. With a never-ending supply of fighting in every discipline, there’s always something new to watch. Leave it to the world’s authority in MMA to bring you the Ultimate 24/7 platform for MORE combat sports, UFC Fight Pass!
Drakkar Klose TKOs Jenkins | UFC Fight Night: Luque vs Muhammad 2
/
“Sometimes I fight with my emotions too much and that kind of puts me in bad situations,” he admits. “With Joe, I can't fight with anger. I think I just have to fight technical, and make sure I don't give up stupid positions. I normally give up a stupid position every fight, and with him, I know the consequences. He's very good at getting those submissions, so I know I can't give up any position that he can capitalize upon.”
You can hear the excitement in Klose’s voice when he talks about his return to the Octagon. Yeah, coaching is nice, a rest on the body is good, too. But getting to fight again, that’s his happy place.
“I've been competing since fourth grade and all I know is how to compete, and when that's taken away from you for a year, you just get that itch every day to compete and see if you still have it,” he said. “It’s like you get to be yourself. Once I'm in that cage, it feels like there's a weight off my shoulders, and I get to be whoever I want in that cage for 15 minutes. And then once it's over, it's like, I need that. I need to get that rush again.”
UFC Fight Night: Dariush vs Tsarukyan took place live from Moody Center in Austin, Texas on December 2, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
