5 Defining Moments: Austen Lane

Austen Lane still has time to establish himself as a viable heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, though his margin for error figures to be quite narrow.

The 6-foot-6 Bulldog Boxing export will attempt to secure a sturdier foothold when he locks horns with the unbeaten Mario Pinto in a UFC Fight Night 253 showcase this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Lane enters the cage with losses in two of his past three bouts. He has delivered 11 of his 13 career victories by knockout or technical knockout, eight of them inside one round.

As Lane makes final preparations ahead of his upcoming battle with Pinto, a look at five of the moments that have come to define him:

1. Hard Knocks

Disgraced former NFL All-Pro Greg Hardy put away Lane with a savage two-punch combination during Week 1 of Dana White’s Contender Series on June 12, 2018 at the UFC Training Center in Las Vegas. Referee Mark Smith called for the stoppage just 57 seconds into Round 1. Neither man was bashful with his hands. After a brief pause for an inadvertent eye poke, Hardy dropped the Evanston, Illinois, native to a knee with a wicked right hook, allowed him to stand and uncorked a left hook that floored him where he stood. By then, Smith was on the scene to prevent further damage. The performance resulted in a UFC contract for Hardy, who spent six seasons in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys.

2. Trophy Hunter

Lane laid claim to the Fury Fighting Championship heavyweight crown when he took out Juan Adams with punches in the fourth round of their FFC 54 headliner on Nov. 21, 2021 at the Arena Theatre in Houston. Adams bowed out 43 seconds into Round 4. Sailing was far from smooth for Lane. Adams was in command for much of the match, as he closed the distance, clinched and secured takedowns, pairing them with suffocating positional control and intermittent ground-and-pound. However, he seemed to exhaust himself while doing so, and Lane was the fresher of the two at the start of the fourth round. He backed Adams to the fence behind a one-two, blasted him with a slashing right uppercut and flurried with power punches, leaving him facedown and clinging to a leg. It was enough to prompt referee Jeff Rexroad to act.

3. Persistence Pays

Lane disposed of Chute Boxe rep Richard Jacobi with punches in the first round of their heavyweight feature during Week 9 of DWCS on Sept. 20, 2022 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It was waved off 4:34 into Round 1. Jacobi somehow weathered a brutal kick to the groin, managed to complete a takedown after the restart and climbed immediately to full mount. Lane stayed composed and called upon his considerable strength and athleticism to execute a reversal into top position. He lulled Jacobi into a false sense of security, then postured out of full guard before unleashing a hellacious barrage of punches that sealed the Brazilian’s fate. Afterward, he was awarded his long-sought UFC contract.

4. Downed Down Under

Former Xtreme Fighting Championships titleholder Justin Tafa brought down the two-time DWCS alum with punches in the opening round of their UFC 293 heavyweight rematch on Sept. 9, 2023 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. The curtain closed 82 seconds into Round 1. Their first encounter ended in a no contest due to an accidental eye poke a little over a month earlier, and Tafa made certain their do-over concluded in far more decisive fashion. Lane tested the water with body kicks but failed to keep his chin tucked and paid the price. Tafa decked him with a left hook and then crashed in with a burst of standing-to-ground punches from both hands, leaving referee no choice Jim Perdio no choice but to intervene.

5. Balancing the Risk-Reward Scale

Takedowns accompanied by ground-and-pound and the occasional threat of a submission carried Lane to a unanimous decision over the heavily favored Robelis Despaigne as part of the UFC Fight Night 245 undercard on Oct. 19, 2024 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges scored it 29-28. Operating in the shadows of the Anthony Hernandez-Michel Pereira main event, Lane did everything he could to neutralize his explosive Cuban counterpart. He struck for takedowns in all three rounds and racked up nearly nine minutes of control time against Despaigne—an Olympic bronze medalist in taekwondo with four sub-minute finishes to his credit, including an 18-second rout of Josh Parisian in his Octagon debut seven months prior.