‘My mind was scattered’: Inside Jimmy Crute’s UFC comeback

The last time Jimmy Crute had UFC suitcases, he knelt in the middle of the octagon. The Australian was inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, broken, his gloves threw a few steps ahead of him. A mixed martial arts career apparently over, almost before it really started or at least without the success it had once promised so seriously.

In the days that followed the UFC 290, the same event added where Alexander Volkanovski last tasted success, Crute (12-4) additional context for his post-match actions, stating that he did not retire.

However, Crute confirmed that he stepped away from the sport. A third loss in four games had hit a brutal reality for the then 27-year-old that he was not suitable for competing in one of the toughest sports, in fact, that he was actually mentally exhausted.

“I took a big step out of the pressure cooker,” Crute reflected to ESPN. “I felt that I was continuing to have an injury after the next. I was never really harmless. My mind was very scattered and I felt I didn’t really know myself.

“So when you try to be someone else in a sport like this, you’ll find quite cursed quickly. So now I’m just myself and that’s all I have to be.”

For a fighter rated No. 1 in ESPN’s Top 25 warriors under 25 in 2020, Crute’s fall was as fast as his climb was fast.

After coming through the Dana White’s Contender series and icing its place in the promotion correctly with a fantastic round 1 -knockout by Chris Birchler, Crute then won four of her next five light tongue -weight bouts to earn himself a place in the Division’s Top 10.

But an early medical stop during his battle with Anthony Smith launched a race with defeat that culminated with a round 2 -matrimonation loss to Alonzo MeniField in their re -match in Las Vegas in July 2023.

Crute had gone from one of the rising heavyweight division’s rising challengers to a fighter who had almost completely lost its way. But there was far more below the surface than maybe he, his coaches or someone with an interest in the UFC could have imagined.

“He wasn’t in a good place,” Crute’s Coach and three-time former World Kickboxing champion, Sam Greco, told ESPN. “To continue and not be in a good place is quite dangerous. It’s dangerous enough as it is. He accepted it, went out.

“He tried a lot of things. A lot of things didn’t work and there are a few things that worked. I think you who actually really care for you, whether you’re fighting or not fighting.

“I want to be honest with you. I couldn’t care if Jimmy is fighting or he isn’t fighting. For me he’s like a son to me. That’s why I treat myself as a father figure. I’ve had him from day A … I know his abilities.

“He went to the dark side of a while then, but again mental health is a big thing in today’s youth, in today’s world. He provided help and he has returned to a family and he enjoys this family environment.”

After taking 12 months to clear his mind, Crute eventually found back to Grecos Australian elite teams.

But even with a refreshed mind, a repaired body and a newly won Christian faith, the early days asked more questions on mating than answers.

“The most scary part was when I decided to come back. There (were) a few moments when I thought maybe I can’t come back,” said Crute. “It was scary. I decided to return. My knee blasted again. I went ‘oh, maybe my body can’t do this anymore’. It was scary.

“It was a big mountain to climb, don’t misunderstand me. I don’t train for six months. Only time in my career I have ever had a long time. Like oh, I don’t have the fitness I used to have.

“But I have faith and I continued. You can move mountains with faith. To believe in yourself is one thing but you have to serve that faith.”

While Crute’s confidence faltered in the early weeks, Greco could still see glimpses of the same fighter that he had taken UFC’s light heavyweight wall traiting just a few years earlier.

But first, Crute had to learn some truths in the home.

“I think it has given him a new lease,” Greco said. “The first thing I said when he came back is that you have to find yourself. You have to prove to me that you can find yourself and with Golly, he has that.

“He has participated in every single session. He has done what he has told and he is just aware that wow that has been a year or two there that was a little disastrous; but hey maybe he needed that to realize his value and who he is.

Shill up to Crute’s return to colleague Contender Series Graduate Rodolfo Bellato this weekend in Sydney, the light heavyweight showdown will be one of the more exciting bouts on the UFC 312 card.

What will be different about crute? Can he still mix it with the top joint of the division? Has he still wanted for UFC Gold?

“It’s funny, man. I’ve never had a wish to be the biggest fighter in the world. Never. I was just here,” the crute revealed. “I have wish now. I think I’m working too hard to not be. I think I dedicate too much to not being. I think I sacrifice the necessary to be. So why not be number one?

“The beautiful thing about this sport is that we get to go in there and fight for it. The light heavyweight department is arguably one of the most entertaining divisions in the UFC at the moment, there is an abundance to have a crack on you.”

And then there is the risk that it will again be too much for crute.

“He has to show himself, believe in himself, knowing that he is in ability because he is one of the best -rated fighters,” Greco said of his prosecutor. “As for me when he is on, he can be one of the best -rated fighters, not only in Australia, in the world. I will support him on it.

“As I said, things will fall into place. It’s like a puzzle. Things have to fall into place and it takes a lot of time and a lot of building. He has found these building blocks. He’s come back. We I’ve found these building blocks , and we are getting ready for a war and he will be prepared for it.

When Crute threw the gloves aside in Vegas more than 18 months ago, in a fleeting moment, it looked like it could be for the last time. Period.

Armed with a whole new mentality and view, in a new pair of UFC suitcases, the gloves may come off again. Only this time; Could they be thrown over the Octagon fence in the celebration?

“I think I just want to be happy to be there,” Crute replied when asked about a potential victory feud. “I just want to be happy to be back in the octagon. As I said, I’m in a really good place now but I wasn’t (beforehand). It was a lot of work to get back hit so I will enjoy every minute of to be back in there.

Not that he plans to go the full three rounds.

“I will beat him out. I will go in there and go to war. That’s it.”