Athletes
Former Jaguars Defensive Lineman Austen Lane Set To Make UFC Debut In Jacksonville
Lane Played Three Seasons With The Jaguars From 2010 Through 2012 And Fights Out Of Jacksonville
Austen Lane is set to make his UFC debut in Jacksonville at UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs. Topuria – but it’s far from the first time the heavyweight has competed in Duval County.
From 2010 through 2012, Lane was a hard hitter in the Bold City in a different sport, playing in 28 games for the NFL’s Jaguars. Selected by Jacksonville in the 5th round of the 2010 NFL Draft, Lane made 17 starts at defensive end, recording 66 tackles, three sacks, and one forced fumble in three seasons with the team. Lane was a member of the Jaguars for the bulk of his playing career, but also spent time with the Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, and Chicago Bears.
UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs Topuria Fight by Fight Preview
After half a decade in the NFL, Lane pivoted to a career in mixed martial arts.
With a UFC debut quickly approaching, Lane is set to join the likes of Zac Pauga, Greg Hardy, Marcus Jones and Matt Mitrione as former NFL players to compete in UFC. While switching between two vastly different sports is rather unorthodox, the signs of a great fighter were always there for Lane, most notably in the imposing, physical strength that he possessed as a defensive lineman.
“Austin’s a guy that’s a physical guy,” said Joe Cullen, Lane’s defensive line coach for all three of his seasons in Jacksonville, in a 2012 press conference. “He relies more on physical power, things like that.”
A trademark of his days in the NFL, power has been the name of the game for Lane in MMA as well. Across both professional and amateur MMA, Lane has earned eight victories by knockout, and it could be the key to success in UFC for the former football star.
Strength and power have always been at the forefront of Lane’s style, regardless of sport, and skills from both have translated into one another. Even in the midst of his professional football playing days, Lane began training in MMA in order to stay in shape.
Lane joined the Detroit Lions during week 10 of the 2013 NFL season following an injury to star defensive end Ziggy Ansah, playing two games with Detroit prior to being released three weeks later. In the time in between his stints with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Lions in 2013, Lane began training in both boxing and MMA in order to stay in playing condition for football.
"Boxing and MMA kind of filled my void of hitting people because I still needed some contact," Lane told MLive.com in 2013. "I just can't go and bench 225 a couple times and call it a day. I had to do something else. That's where the MMA came in. It helped out a lot."
Before he stepped foot onto either an NFL field or the Octagon, Lane was a college standout at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. Lane was twice named an All-American by the Associated Press while at Murray State in 2008 and 2009, and earned the 2009 Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year award following his final collegiate season.
Fighters On The Rise In Jacksonville
In four years at Murray State, Lane made 40 starts in 43 appearances, setting the school records for sacks with 29 and tackles for loss with 55 in the process, good enough for a spot in the Murray State Racers Hall of Fame in 2019.
Nathan Williams, Lane’s former teammate at Murray State, remembered Lane entering college as a skinny freshman from Wisconsin who passed out at practice during the muggy Kentucky summer. But four years later, he noticed the growth and hard work Lane put in day after day to become one of the most feared defenders in the country, traits that he still sees in Lane over a decade after his playing days at Murray State concluded.
“After football, his passion and drive never waned. The Octagon and mixed martial arts became his new campaign,” Williams said during Lane’s Racers Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2019. “Austin, when I’m old and using a cane, I will always remember how hard we pushed each other and could not be tamed.”
Over a decade after his final game in a Jaguars uniform, Lane is poised to make his UFC debut in the city he continues to fight out of.
Lane achieved his dreams in his previous sport, and now the footballer-turned-fighter has the chance to make them come true in another in front of a hometown crowd at UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs. Topuria.
UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs Topuria took place live from the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida on June 24, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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