A lot of impressive things happen inside a UFC octagon but James Krause might have pulled off the smoothest when he caught his own gum shield after Warlley Alves knocked it out.
Welterweight Krause was taking on Brazilian Alves at UFC fight night 135 back in August 2018 when he was caught in the face by a forearm from his opponent.
The blow caused the American's gum shield to pop out and, despite him barely being able to see it in eyeline, Krause caught it and popped it back in his mouth to continue the fight.
The shot from Alves clearly didn't do any damage to Krause as he went on to win the fight in the next round with a stoppage via 'kicks and punches.'
Krause hasn't actually been back in the octagon since that win 15 months ago but he makes his return to action on Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 164, and interestingly Alves will also be in action.
The 33-year-old American faces Sergio Moraes on the undercard in Brazil. He hasn't lost in his most recent five fights, stretching back four years, and he hinted that he could be near the end of his fighting career.
Speaking ahead of this week's fight he said, "The hardest thing to do in this sport is to quit. I don't want to be the guy that my coach has to have that conversation like, 'Hey man, you've lost two in a row, three in a row now. You just don't have it anymore.' I don't want to put him in the position to have that conversation, I don't want to put my family in position to have that conversation, so if you look at that like, when do you quit? When are you done? And that's the tough thing is there's no blueprint on when to be done in this sport.
"I'll tell you this: I don't know when I'm gonna be done - I'm not gonna put a statement on that - but I want people to say, 'Man, I think he quit a little too early.' I would rather that than people say, 'Oh God, he should have quit two years ago.' I don't need to fight to make money any more, and I think that's where a lot of people are stuck at. I definitely want to be on the end of people thinking I quit a little too early than a little too late. Really, there's no set time to be done. When I'm done, I want to be done on top, and I want to be done on my terms, not on somebody else's."
Whatever happens on Saturday night Krause will have to go someway to do anything as smooth as the last time he was in the octagon.
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