UFC News: Jimmy Crute reveals rise from being unable to walk to fighting in the Octagon

As a young boy Jimmy Crute couldn’t even walk properly, an obstacle he tackled the same way he fights – head on.

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – OCTOBER 18: In this handout image provided by UFC, : (R-L) Jimmy Crute of Australia punches Modestas Bukauskas of Lithuania in their light heavyweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event inside Flash Forum on UFC Fight Island on October 18, 2020 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

When Jimmy Crute had no money for petrol as a teenager, he started selling his computer games online.

Then, when he ran out of those?

“Whatever I could find around the house,” he says. “Even if something could get me $10 in petrol, I sold it.”

At the time, Crute was 19.

A Bendigo high school drop out who, apart from working a full-time plumbing apprenticeship, or driving four hours every day to train in Melbourne, was also rising to jog in the dark, building a body that “didn’t work right” and, occasionally, still hearing the words of that teacher who sent him packing in Year 9.

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Jimmy Crute punches Modestas Bukauskas of Lithuania in their light heavyweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event inside Flash Forum on UFC Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. Picture: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

“And I don’t want to throw them under the bus now,” Crute says. “But that teacher said I’d never amount to anything. “That’s exactly what was said.”

A conversation which had started, initially, a year earlier, when that same teacher asked what Crute wanted to do post school.

“And I said I was going to fight in the UFC,” he continues. “But the teacher told me ‘no, pick a real job’.”

Yet young Jimmy persisted, not only explaining how cage fighting was a real job, but that he intended devoting every waking hour to nothing but making it all the way to the UFC.

“So the school ended up phoning my parents,” the now 25-year-old laughs. “Told mum and dad they were concerned, said I wasn’t co-operating.

“They thought I was taking the piss.

“But I was dead serious.”

Still is.

"Me and Jamahal don't take backwards steps."

Jimmy Crute (@CruteJim) believes his light heavyweight showdown with Jamahal Hill has all the makings of a banger 🔊⬆️ #UFCVegas44pic.twitter.com/QfwAgTF8Vy

— UFC News (@UFCNews) December 2, 2021

Which is why this Sunday in Las Vegas, Crute faces rising American contender Jamahal Hill in a showdown set to announce the UFC light heavyweight division’s next top 10 contender.

Better, and with the Australian fight game in its best shape in years – thanks to the likes of George Kambosos, Alexander Volkanovski, Robert Whittaker and Tim Tszyu – Crute also now looms as the nation’s next breakout star.

Which is some rise for the Melburnian who, as a young boy, couldn’t even walk properly

“My legs didn’t work right,” Crute explains. “With all my joints, nothing moved like it should.

“I couldn’t even run around the block.”

Really?

“Athletically, I had some hillbilly strength,” he says.

“And a fighting spirit.

“But that was it.

“Even now if you look at my fights, my knees go inward, my ankles are floppy, everything is f … ed.”

Aussie UFC star Jimmy Crute with his trainer Alex Prates pictured at the Gracie Jiu Jitsu gym at Smeaton Grange. Picture: Richard Dobson

Which goes more than some way to explaining the dedication of this third generation fighter.

A No. 13 contender who, despite being unable to run further than a block on those dodgy joints as a kid, kept trying anyway. Same as he not only trained alone in the school gym, but then later sold close anything not nailed down to make those training sessions in Melbourne.

But young thug?

Um, no.

In fact, Crute has never once been in a street fight.

“And there have been plenty of opportunities,” he concedes.

“But I’ve always found a way out of them.

“Even at school, my only fights were when I was looking after a family member or a mate. That’s it.

“Same as a kid during jiu jitsu training, and I would stop and think, ‘shit we’re learning how to break someone’s arm here’. Or choke them unconscious.

“I would always think it was weird because I never thought about that normally.”

So as for what does drive Crute?

“Maybe I’ve just got a few screws loose,” he laughs. “Who knows?

“I just really love what I’m doing.”