Fighters typically try to eliminate as many distractions as possible when getting ready to compete, but don’t lump UFC lightweight Trey Ogden into that group.
Just a few weeks out from his own matchup at UFC Vegas 82, Ogden was flying halfway around the world to corner Mike Breeden in Abu Dhabi because that’s the responsibility he’s taken upon himself over the past year. That trip came after Ogden was also front and center for a fight involving Garrett Armfield in Singapore in August as well as a relatively quick jaunt out to Las Vegas to corner Miles Johns in September.
If that all seems like a lot going on for someone getting ready for their own fight in November, well it is.
But that’s just the position Ogden accepted after his longtime head coach and mentor James Krause was banned from the sport due to his alleged involvement in a betting scandal that rocked the UFC.
“The last year has been crazy,” Ogden told MMA Fighting. “Because the same week that was all happening [with James being banned] and I had to rebrand my gym. There were three Glory MMA’s and they made a triangle around Kansas City. James Krause had the original one, Zack Cummings had one north of the Missouri River and mine was south of the Missouri River on the Kansas side. I had to rebrand my gym and take care of all of that the same week my first daughter was born.
“That was wild so the whole year has been wild. I’m adjusting to being a parent and my fight team is a little bigger than it was and I lost my coach. It’s hard to wrap my head around that whole situation. It took me a long time to even quit thinking about it. I still think about it. No one saw that coming.”
As part of the edict handed down by the UFC, fighters are no longer allowed to associate with Krause in any way — that includes using him as a coach or training at his gym. As a result, Krause shut down Glory MMA and Fitness, a gym that housed dozens of UFC veterans including Ogden whenever he was preparing for a fight.
Krause’s name became so toxic that Ogden was even forced to change the name of his gym, or he would have been bounced off the UFC roster.
“I was told even if James was no longer associated with my gym, if it was called Glory MMA, I’m out,” Ogden revealed.
Thankfully, Ogden had already started working on a curriculum of his own that he adopted into a gym name — Marathon MMA — and he gladly opened his doors to many of the friends and teammates also displaced when Glory MMA shut down.
Of course, Ogden still had to deal with a much more personal problem because Krause’s ban meant that he could no longer coach any of his fighters in any capacity. That meant Ogden had to completely cut ties or risk his own expulsion from the UFC.
Thankfully, Ogden had plenty of experience to draw upon as he moved forward but he admits that Krause’s shadow will always loom large over his career because that influence was so profound.
“I’m very grateful for the time that I did have with James,” Ogden said. “He taught me a lot about life. He taught me a lot about fighting. He taught me a lot about martial arts. He also taught me how to make martial arts a real profession and make a real living at it. He was the only real example I had of somebody doing that at the time. I’m very grateful for the time with him.
“I had a decade with Krause. So with him gone now, his voice is still in my head. I hear him. I know what he would say about everything. At least I had my full time. I did a full decade with him. I took a lot of really good notes. I’m a good student. So I know the whole Glory curriculum by hand. Not having him there for game day is obviously an adjustment but it is what it is.”
While Ogden already owned his own gym prior to Krause’s departure, he took on a much bigger role as a coach, especially with a number of UFC fighters training under his umbrella.
That’s why Ogden didn’t blink when it came time to travel to Singapore or Abu Dhabi when some of his guys had fights scheduled. It may seem like a bad idea considering he’s got his own career to focus on but Ogden says there are a lot of hours in the day and he makes the most out of all of them.
“I still have the same coaching schedule,” Ogden said. “cI teach three classes a day, sometimes four. A private lesson at least once everyday with my guys and I still have time to train more than most of these fighters. I still train more than these other guys. Most of these guys think they’re getting after life but they’re not. They’re part time at everything. I’m full time at everything I do.”
Ogden expects there will come a time when his own career in the cage will come to an end and coaching will become his full-time job but that’s not right now.
If the past year has taught him anything, it’s that the world won’t stop spinning just because his life has undergone such dramatic change so he’s learned to just buckle up and brace for impact.
“It is a massive workload,” Ogden said. “I view this like war. Soldiers die everyday and the war still goes on. You have to stay focused. I’m still contracted with the UFC. That’s a dangerous mission. I have to stay focused.”
