Ten years removed, the fight is largely forgotten. When it does come up, Krantz looks back at the loss in high spirits. After all, there’s not much shame in lasting longer in the cage with Poirier than Conor McGregor did in their rematch.
“I remember I was trying to cut weight with an Airdyne bike in the sauna,” Krantz recalled. “I’ll never forget that. That was awful, but everybody out there, Dustin, his old lady and his coach, they were all real respectful, so it was a good experience. I would have liked the outcome to have been a little different. I almost had him in the first round, he had me in the second. That’s the way it goes.”
Preview UFC 261 Fight By Fight
Staying as busy as he could, Krantz became the face of regional promotions across the South, fighting outside of Texas and Louisiana only four times before being called up to the UFC. He would go 0-2 in the UFC, losing to Vicente Luque and Song Kenan before he was released in 2019.
It has been over a year-and-a-half since Krantz’s last professional fight, the longest break in action Krantz has ever taken. He has lived the life of a regional fighter to the fullest and while being cut from the UFC would have been a perfect stopping point for many, Krantz isn’t simply a fighter with titles and paydays in mind. He’s simply a fighter.