Then he decided to become a prizefighter in a sport where athleticism is a great tool to have in your back pocket, but it’s not the only thing necessary to succeed. There are intangibles like heart and hunger, things that don’t show up on the tale of the tape. And for someone who already made it to the top of one sport and who didn’t need to fight to make a living or escape a bad situation, Lane’s decision to step into this new world is admirable, and it makes him a lot more dangerous than a lot of his peers because he wants to do it, even though there are other avenues out there for him.
“I was a co-host on a radio show here in Jacksonville,” Lane said. “And I got let go from that show. When I was let go, I had a couple offers to go around the country and work for other radio stations. And when we talk about the payout of those contracts, I remember one general manager reached out to me, he’s like, ‘Hey, do you want to come work for us?’ And I said, ‘With all due respect, I’m going to keep on fighting here in Jacksonville; this is where my camp is at, it’s where all my teammates are. And he said, ‘Well, before you answer, let me send you some figures and then get back to me.’”
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Those figures were nice, more than what a fighter in the early stages of his career would make. But Lane wasn’t going anywhere.
“I turned those offers down because this is what I was meant to do,” he said. “I truly feel like that. Maybe in the future, radio broadcasting is still going to be there for me. But I would be pursuing this journey whether I was fighting in a parking lot or I was fighting on the biggest stage. It’s just something that I told myself I was going to do, and I have to see this through, and I have to take it as far as I can take it. I think with my mindset and my work ethic, I could be successful anywhere, but I want to be successful here, not as the guy who is “a former NFL player and now MMA fighter.” When this is all said and done, I just want to be respected as an MMA fighter who earned his stripes, who paid his dues and became one of the best fighters in the world.”
That quest has brought him to the UFC, the end goal for most who compete in the sport, and while his name recognition could lead some to believe that he got a golden path to the Octagon, that’s not the case for the 35-year-old, who paid his dues to get to the big show. Remember, Lane had just a 4-0 pro record when he got a fight on season two of Dana White’s Contender Series in 2018 against fellow NFL vet Greg Hardy. Lane was stopped by Hardy and lost his next fight three months later to Frank Tate.
