Austen Lane is determined to establish himself in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight division. The powerful 35-year-old will return to the Octagon when he faces off against Justin Tafa in a featured UFC 293 event on Saturday at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. Their first encounter resulted in a no contest due to an inadvertent eye poke a little over two months ago. Unbeaten in his last seven fights, Lane has not experienced defeat since succumbing to first-round punches from Vernon Lewis under the Legacy Fighting Alliance banner in March 2020. As a professional fighter, he has never gone the distance.
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1. He was a force on the gridiron.
Lane excelled 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. Over 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, just 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.
Representing Bulldog Boxing, Lane made his professional mixed martial arts debut on April 1, 2017, and impressed from the outset. He needed just 14 seconds to defeat John Darling with punches at a Combat Night event in Sarasota, Florida. He went on to claim victory in his first four fights, all via first-round finish.
3. He has proven his worth as a beast of burden.
Lane has held championship titles in three different organizations. He defeated Tebaris Gordon with first-round punches to capture the Warfare MMA heavyweight championship on September 12, 2020. Lane then secured the Combat Night heavyweight crown with a first-round knockout of Rashaun Jackson on July 24, 2021, before defeating Juan Adams with fourth-round punches to claim the Fury Fighting Championship heavyweight title on November 21, 2021.
4. Failure emboldens him.
The Evanston, Illinois native gained 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 crushing loss to Greg Hardy some four years earlier.
5. He has eggs in multiple baskets.
After retiring from the NFL, Lane returned to school 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.