The thinking man's champion: Will Starks following the path blazed by Georges St-Pierre

With an eye on the UFC, reigning lightweight champion puts his title on the line in the main event of CFFC 154

With more than 30 total combined professional and amateur appearances under his belt, CFFC lightweight champion Will Starks still remembers the exact moment he first found an interest in martial arts.

"I saw my first UFC match when I was 11 years old," Starks recalled. "It was when 'UFC Unleashed' aired on Spike TV, and I was just a skinny dweeb back then, right? I got picked on. I had really low self-confidence, but as I watched the sport over the years and continued to gain an interest in martial arts, I finally mustered up the courage to try out for the wrestling team my senior year of high school."

From there, Starks was hooked, and the journey quickly began in earnest. He debuted as an amateur in 2012 at just 19 years old, eventually building a 15-1 record and claiming two IMMAF world titles along the way.

Starks credits one athlete in particular for setting the example he hope to follow.

"Around that time, Georges St-Pierre was dominating the sport, and there was something in particular about his approach, his mannerisms, that really spoke to me," Starks said. "His career as champion resonated deeply – his story – and I did my best to emulate his style, to emulate his training ideology.

"I really think he reflected the current meta of MMA: You have to be a complete fighter, striking and grappling. You have to integrate. You have to be an athlete, which means strength and conditioning and nutrition are important – and mindset, right? You know, he works with a sports psychologist. He's very open about the emotional components of his journey, and I think all of those together complete the modern MMA champion, and that's currently the standard. If you don't have all those pieces at least 75 percent complete, you don't see many guys succeeding at even the mid-tier level in the UFC."

Starks certainly seems to be nearing that level of mastery, currently riding a five-fight win streak and most recently claiming the CFFC belt with a third-round stoppage over a previously undefeated Nikita Leshukov in February.

Starks credits his coaches, including his current home at Michigan Top Team, for helping guide him to this point despite a relatively late start compared to many athletes who begin training much earlier in their lives.

"Consciously it was just do what my coaches, or at least the leaders in my life, thought was best for me," Starks said. "I really wasn't sure how to get to the UFC, you know? And honestly, I didn't have a clear or a confident image of what my path and what my journey inside the UFC would look like. I always knew that's where I wanted to go, but I had a hard time really believing that someone who started as late as I did with the resources I had at the time, could do anything meaningful.

"A lot of these guys were classical arts black belts. They started wrestling when they were younger, or they were training with mega gyms already, so, so they had a foot in the game, a head start. I needed experience, man. If this was a video game, if I'm playing this, like, Pokemon style, I just need to walk through the grass, wade through the water, and rack up some experience points and level up the skill matrix, so to speak.

"You guys can see what I did this last fight against Nikita, where I have a complete game. I have a working system. It took a while, and now I'm at a point where I understand the game inside and out, not just as a fighter and what I need to do, but as a businessman, as well."

For Starks, martial arts isn't simply his job or a hobby, It is a way of life, and it guides all aspects of his environment.

"The martial way or the Budo, the path, ultimately is what I'm aiming for," Starks said. "Martial arts makes me better. The current buzz term on social media is 'mind, body, soul,' or 'mind, body, spirit,' but they're all connected, and it does make me better.

"I become a healthier person as I eat and exercise in a way that supports longevity and performance. I nourish my mind. I read. I do continuing education within healthcare. I'm branching out and trying to understand how all working pieces in life connect to this journey as a combat athlete while I'm still in it."

The journey continues on Friday, May 29, when he looks to defend his title in the main event of CFFC 154, the most unique event in promotional history, taking place outdoors at The Union League of Philadelphia's Liberty Hill as part of the organization's own America 250 celebration, streaming live on UFC FIGHT PASS. There, Starks (12-3 MMA, 1-0 CFFC) will take on the undefeated Kevin Pease (7-0 MMA, 5-0 CFFC), the former CFFC welterweight champ who is moving down to 155 pounds for a shot at a second title.

It's a high-level fight in a high-profile event, and Starks is fully aware of the stakes.

"Even my wife, Katie, she had told me, 'Treat this as the biggest fight of your career,'" Starks revealed. "They always say every fight is the biggest fight, but I've had times in the past where I didn't recognize what was being set up for me ...  so when I look at this, I'm headlining for America 250, you know, just one month before the UFC does the same thing for UFC Freedom. This is big, and I get to fight another undefeated stud, and it's a huge honor to headline for an event like this.

"It's even more than a test of tactics and strategy – this is a battle of identity. I am the CFFC lightweight champion. He is the CFFC welterweight champion, and he's trying to go double champ status, and I admire him for that, but I believe at an identity level, right, the person that I am, the way that I've constructed my life, is organized such that no one, no one with any approach will take this identity from me."

It's an intriguing matchup, to say the least, and with Dana White's Contender Series currently booking this season's matchups, the winner would seemingly be a prime candidate for a spot, if not an invitation directly to the UFC.

It's a position an 11-year-old Will Starks might have struggled to envision, but now that he's here, the champion has strong belief that he will deliver.

"No one will take the title from me," Starks said. "I believe that I have architected a reality where I will sustain my status as the CFFC lightweight champion, and I will prove once again that I'm ready to test my skills on the highest stage. So everyone watching, look out. This is an opportunity to do our country proud and to prove who's ready, willing, and able to make that jump onto the global stage."