Viewers on UFC broacasts are often given an inside look at the
coaching in fighters’ corners between rounds. In some instances,
the advice given by the corners can be misleading — often because
the coaches and trainers are viewing the bout from a different
perspective.
After UFC Fight Night 194, James
Krause, Tim
Elliott’s coach at Glory MMA & Fitness, admitted that his
instructions ended up being to the detriment of his athlete.
Elliott fell to Matheus
Nicolau via unanimous decision, with all three judges
submitting 29-28 scorecards in favor of the Brazilian.
Krause, meanwhile, saw a different fight from his cageside seat,
and he’s accepting some of the blame for Elliott’s defeat.
“I made a huge coaching error tonight that I’m sure is going to
haunt me for some time to come,” Krause wrote on Instagram. “Going
into the [third] round I thought for 100% sure we took 1 and 2.
Regardless of if that was true or not I should have pushed Tim to
work up in the 3rd… and I didn’t.
“Win, lose, or draw I’m so proud of the improvements that Tim has
made in the last year. His willingness to learn and be coached is
what makes him so incredible. His lack of fear in competition is
something we can all take and learn from to be one of the best
entertainers in all of MMA. I know I have learned so much from him
over the years.
“I f—ing hate losing but it’s part of the game. Regardless, this
dude is my dog. We’ve been through worse losses than this one. I’ve
said this before and I’ll say it again… There’s only one
@awkward_mma.”
While Elliott started quickly thanks to a takedown and effective
clinch work, Nicolau took control down the stretch. All media
outlets tracked by
MMADecisions.com also had the fight 29-28 for Nicolau.
Nicolau himself was confident that he pulled away over the bout’s
final 10 minutes.
“I knew the first round was for him because he put me on the
ground. … I give the first round to him,” Nicolau said. “But the
second and third, I knew I got the victory.”