Jaguars fans are about to see former starter in a UFC fight
Jacksonville Jaguars fans who tune into (or watch from the stands) the UFC this Saturday might spot a familiar face: Former defensive Austen Lane. It's then that Lane is set to make his debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the top mixed martial arts promotion. The former Jaguars fifth-round draft pick started nine games as […]
Jacksonville Jaguars fans who tune into (or watch from the stands) the UFC this Saturday might spot a familiar face: Former defensive Austen Lane.
It's then that Lane is set to make his debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the top mixed martial arts promotion. The former Jaguars fifth-round draft pick started nine games as a rookie in the NFL in 2010. Jacksonville released him in 2013.
After bouncing around a few teams, Lane has now been out of the NFL for almost 10 years now but he's been going at it in another violent sport.
Starting out as an amateur in 2015, Lane went 5-0 before going pro. Since then, he has racked up a 12-3 record and is currently riding a six-win streak that got him to the UFC following a first-round finish in Dana White's Contender Series, in which fighters aim to impress White to earn a contract right after the bout.
Lane now gets a chance to debut in Jacksonville, his first NFL home.
"To fight in Jacksonville, where my book really started here, playing football and now another sport, it's awesome," Lane told reporters at a UFC press conference via NFL.com's Grant Gordon.
Weighing at 245.5 pounds on Friday, Lane's career in the heavyweight division will be very intriguing. At 35 years old, he's not a hot young prospect matchmaker who will carefully try to develop.
Instead, on Saturday's 3 p.m. ET main card (which will air on ABC, hence the odd start time), he'll kick off what should be quite the entry gauntlet into the promotion. He'll square off against Justin Tafa, a 266-pounder who boasts three wins in the UFC and a 6-3 record.
For Jaguars fans with no football to watch this weekend, it could make for a fun experience. It's (almost) time.
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Featured image via Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK
