Austen Lane would like nothing more than to carve out a comfortable spot for himself in the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division.
The brick-fisted 35-year-old will step back into the Octagon when he rematches Justin Tafa in a featured UFC 293 attraction on Saturday at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. Their first encounter resulted in a no contest due to an inadvertent eye poke a little more than two months ago. Unbeaten across his past seven outings, Lane has not tasted defeat since he bowed to first-round punches from Vernon Lewis under the Legacy Fighting Alliance banner in March 2020. He has never gone the distance as a pro.
As the 6-foot-6, 245-pound Lane makes final preparations for his looming showdown with Tafa, here are five things you might not know about him:
1. He was a force on the gridiron.
Lane starred as a defensive lineman at Murray State University in Kentucky, where he earned first team All-America honors and was named the Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2009. More than a decade later, he remains the school’s all-time leader in sacks (29) and tackles for loss (53.5). Lane was drafted by Jacksonville in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL Draft, four spots ahead of Arthur Jones—the older brother of reigning UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones. He spent parts of five seasons in the NFL with the Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears.
2. Fast starts were an early calling card.
The Bulldog Boxing rep made his professional mixed martial arts debut on April 1, 2017 and did not disappoint. Lane needed just 14 seconds to bury John Darling with punches at a Combat Night event in Sarasota, Florida. He went on to win his first four fights, all via first-round finish.
3. He has proven his worth as a beast of burden.
Lane has worn gold in three different organizations. He wrecked Tebaris Gordon with first-round punches to capture the Warfare MMA heavyweight championship on Sept. 12, 2020, laid claim to the Combat Night heavyweight crown with a first-round knockout of Rashaun Jackson on July 24, 2021 and took out Juan Adams with fourth-round punches to walk away with the Fury Fighting Championship heavyweight title on Nov. 21, 2021.
4. Failure emboldens him.
The Evanston, Illinois, native was granted to entry to the UFC after his first-round technical knockout of Richard Jacobi during Season 6 of Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022. Lane was unsuccessful in his first appearance on DWCS, as he lasted just 57 seconds in a blowout loss to Greg Hardy some four years earlier.
5. He has eggs in multiple baskets.
Lane returned to school after retiring from the NFL and graduated from Murray State with a degree in journalism in 2017. The university’s alumni include two Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters: John Fetterman, of The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, and Gene Graham, of The Nashville Tennessean.
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