In March of this year, Austen Lane stepped into the cage with Portuguese prospect, Mario Pinto. However, on the day of the fight, that wasn’t the only thing in the cage with Lane. As fight week unfolded, so did one of the most stressful times of Lane’s life, and it kept him on edge the whole week.
“Yeah, man, so a lot of people don’t know this, but that was a very emotional fight for me. My stepdad, who I consider my real dad, he raised me, that Monday of fight week, he got in a very serious ski accident,” Lane explained “Ended up breaking his skull in five spots, broke his spine, broke his neck, and broke his heel as well. So he didn’t wake up till Thursday, and there was talks like whether he’s gonna wake up or not.”
Despite all of that, Lane would continue on with the fight. Not only that, but he came out hot in the first – dropping Mario Pinto and having him on the edge of a TKO finish. With that early success though came a strong desire to get out of there.
“What it came down to is, I was trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. So when I dropped him in that first round, it was just literally like a really quick right, zero power behind it,” he said. “But I was surprised that it dropped him just because he had his hands up and everything. I’m like, okay. So as long as I connect, it’s gonna be over.”
After getting to his corner in between rounds, his coaches warned him against being too eager. They reminded him that Pinto was likely to be looking to get that round back and to come out swinging wild. Even with coaches telling him that information, he didn’t necessarily hear all of it.
“I heard it, but for whatever reason, man, in that moment, and I take pride in being very present, I wasn’t present. I didn’t listen to my coaches. So when you reflect on that – the preparation was there, the training was there, it was just me not executing,” Lane said. “And whether it was just the mental things that I was going through, whether it was just me not listening, whatever the case may be, I thought outside myself and I can’t do that.”
With a much less stressful fight camp and fight week this time, Lane has focused in on fixing the mental side of things. And he’s excited to once again put on for the fans.
“Obviously a big focus of this camp now is, you know, being sound, being present at all times,” he said. “And I’m very excited to showcase what I’ve learned.”
Lane will get a chance to show what he’s learned as part of the UFC Nashville main card. He fights Vitor Petrino on ESPN+ with that portion of the card beginning at 9pm EST this Saturday.
