CFFC iron man Jonathan Piersma not slowing down anytime soon
When Jonathan Piersma steps on to the mat at Saturday's FURY Professional Grappling 5 event, it will mark his fifth appearance under the CFFC banner in just under nine months.
As far as "War Hawk" is concerned, that should be considered the norm for him moving forward.
"I just love to stay busy, trying to fight, compete, as much as possible," Piersma said. "I love doing the grappling events when they come up because it's fun to be able to compete but also not have to get beat up, so that's kind of cool."
This past December, Piersma scored a decision win over UFC welterweight Philip Rowe at FURY Professional Grappling 3. He appeared at May's FURY Professional Grappling 4, as well, while also stepping into the CFFC cage for a pair of appearances along the way.
Most recently, Piersma needed just 86 seconds to score a submission win over T.J. Welch at July's CFFC 111, and the 26-year-old prospect said he had already made his intentions known even before that contest.
"They posted about doing the grappling event a little while back," Piersma said. "I actually mentioned it before my fight, even. I had told them I wanted to be on it, and then I think a week or two after my fight, they hit me up and said they had a match for me."
Piersma now faces CFFC middleweight prospect Connor Dixon in a featured match at Saturday's FURY Professional Grappling 5, which streams live on UFC FIGHT PASS from Philadelphia's 2300 Arena.
Dixon was also on May's FURY Professional Grappling 4 card, and Piersma is intrigued by the matchup.
"From what I've heard and the little bit I have seen, he's a pretty good grappler," Piersma said. "He's fought some MMA fights. It looks like most of those were submissions, and yeah, it should be a good match. I've heard he's a pretty good grappler, and it's going to be a good time."
Piersma wants to make it clear that MMA is his full-time profession, and he understands his window as a top-level fighter is much smaller than that as a grappler. But Piersma enjoys the opportunity to compete as much as possible, and while he's targeting a return to MMA in October, he intends to keep grappling as he rises up the fighting ranks.
"I just look at it as just the opportunity to go compete, have some fun, make a little cash, so it's just something to look forward to for me that's different," Piersma said. "My career is fighting, and that's really important, but the opportunity is there to go do something I really enjoy doing – take a trip down, be on a card with a bunch of other really high-level grapplers – so it's just fun. I love doing the grappling events any time I get the chance."
