Rookie of the Year? Jonathan Piersma enters CFFC 101 seeking fourth win in first year as pro
It wasn't that long ago that Jonathan Piersma thought football might be the avenue that allowed him to become a professional athlete. Fortunately for "War Hawk," a chance encounter helped him find a different path.
"I actually didn't do any martial arts growing up," Piersma said. "I didn't wrestle. I didn't really do any kind of martial arts. I played football. I played other sports.
"So basically I went to college, played football. I think I was maybe a junior, about 20 years old, and I had some college buddies, and one of them trained at a gym. I think it was the off season, and he said, 'Hey, you guys want to go check out a class?' I said, 'Yeah, let's go do it.'"
Piersma was hooked. As he wrapped up his senior year as a linebacker at St. John Fisher College, he realized that professional fighting could provide him an opportunity to continue competing after his collegiate days were done, and he turned his full focus on making up for lost time.
"I started training and I thought, 'You know, I think I could do this professionally – I could fight professionally,'" Piersma said. "I saw that this gave me a much better opportunity to be a professional athlete, so I started training. I started doing some amateur fights, and about a year in, I really think I found my calling."
After an impressive run as an amateur, Piersma made his professional debut this past December under the Cage Fury Fighting Championships banner, picking up a first-round submission win over Tyler Bunting. Four months later, it was an omoplata submission over Tommy Majeski. Two months after that, another victory via tapout.
Three professional fights.
Three submission wins.
Despite getting a relatively late start to his martial arts journey, Piersma believes he's found a home, and while he works hard to be a well-rounded athlete, he admits grappling has proven a natural fit.
"I think I just naturally always took to the grappling and the wrestling a lot more," Piersma said. "It just feels natural. Like, a lot of people always ask where I wrestled. I just tell them I didn't wrestle. I just started wrestling, you know, four or five years ago, when I started training.
"But, yeah, it just always came naturally, the grappling aspect. It just happened, I guess."
Piersma (3-0) will look to keep that streak going on Saturday, when he takes on fellow undefeated welterweight Kris Vereen (5-0) in the co-main event of CFFC 101, which streams live on UFC FIGHT PASS from Parx Casino in Bensalem, Penn. The 25-year-old Piersma knows it's likely to be his toughest test to date.
"We've watched the film, watched his fights," Piersma said. "He's obviously a tough dude. I mean, he's undefeated, 5-0, so you don't get to that point without being good. He is a very good grappler from what we've seen. His fights, he's got a lot of submission wins. He's got some good striking, more of a power puncher. But yeah, we've been breaking down the tape, and I think it's going to be a good matchup.
"We're kind of just prepared for everything because, you know, we're not quite sure where the fight's going to go or what's going to happen."
Ultimately, Piersma hopes to continue building his record enough to get the attention of the UFC, but he admits he's in no rush to get there. For now, the real focus is just on becoming the best fighter possible, and the Synthesis Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter knows if he can keep improving, the rest will take care of itself.
"Obviously since day one, since I started fighting, I've had a goal to be in the UFC and be a world champion," Piersma said. "That's always the end goal. But also right now, I'm just more so focused on being in the gym every day, getting better, because I've only been fighting pro for less than a year. I've only been training for not even five years so far, so really I'm still really new to the sport.
"So yeah, obviously those are the goals, and I do feel I'll get there, but right now I'm just focused on becoming a better fighter every fight, which I think has happened. What it comes down to is if you win, those things are going to come, so I'm just focused on this fight and this win, and I know when I get this win, it's going to open up some more bigger opportunities. Just get this win, get back to work and just win fights, and good things come."
