'Big Bad' Jon Cunningham has simple mission at CFFC 155: 'Come out there and put on a show'

Ohio native challenges for vacant light heavyweight title in main event on June 19, live from Philadelphia's 2300 Arena

Jon Cunningham never expected to be headlining a CFFC event live on UFC FIGHT PASS, fighting for a vacant title. In fact, Cunningham never thought he'd be fighting at all.

"Never was a thought in my mind," Cunningham admitted. "My friend growing up, Ryan, he was really big into it, and so ergo, I was big into it, and then he started training once he got older, and he was like, 'Jon, I think you'd be really good at this.'"

Cunningham didn't listen, though. He was in the midst of chasing his passion of football, making it all the way to the NFL and brief looks from the Atlanta Falcons, Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos before being told he was a little too small for the top level of the sport.

Cunningham initially decided that he'd try to work his way back to the NFL by getting reps in arena football, relocating to New Mexico for the opportunity, but had a sudden change of heart that took him in a completely different direction.

"I woke up one morning and I was like, 'You know, this isn't for me anymore. I don't have the love of it,' and I knew once that happened, I was done with the sport," Cunningham recalled. "Luckily, Jackson Wink was like right down the street. I messaged the gym manager, asked him what was going on, what was the protocol for me to train, and then they worked with me."

Cunningham had enjoyed success in high school as a wrestler, so he wasn't completely green, but his first training sessions weren't exactly a rousing success.

"First day, I was choked out," Cunningham said with a laugh. "The second day, I was knocked out – so yeah, I loved it. I'm a masochist. What can I say?"

Cunningham made his amateur debut in 2020 at CFFC 84 in Mississippi, competing at heavyweight. He needed just 61 seconds to pick up a TKO win.

His pro debut came a year later, after just that lone amateur appearance. Four months after that, he was signed to the PFL Challengers Series, where he came up short against Daiqwon Buckley for the first – and to date, only – loss of his career.

"It's a very humbling experience," Cunningham said. "The guy I lost to, he fought a good fight. He's a a decent fighter, but it's like that pretty girl that you finally get a chance to, like, get with, you know? Do you understand what I'm saying? You expect the night to go a certain way, and you get too excited. One thing leads to another, now you're sitting there stupid like, 'Oh, man. I'm sorry.'

"We all been there, you know? We've all been there. You know what I'm saying? Your mouth's took over more than what your body can actually handle."

Following the setback, Cunningham moved back to his native Ohio, settling in with the Strong Style Fight Team. He also moved out of the heavyweight division, first taking a catchweight bout at 195 pounds and then another at light heavyweight. He was victorious in both outings and says he's open to competing at heavyweight, light heavyweight and even middleweight moving forward.

"I like to fight," Cunningham explained. "I don't care. Me dropping weight classes had nothing to do with that fight. I think it was just the path that the coaching staff had for me at that time, and we're still on that path."

That path has taken Cunningham (3-1 MMA, 0-0 CFFC) to the biggest opportunity of his career thus far, facing Ian Russell (2-0 MMA, 1-0 CFFC) in the main event of CFFC 155 on Friday, June 19, streaming live on UFC FIGHT PASS from Philadelphia's 2300 Arena.

With former champion Luke Fernandez departing for the UFC, the vacant title will be on the line in the matchup, and while Cunningham realizes the importance of the moment, a lifetime of competition has taught him the proper way to approach it.

"Where people mess up with competitions is that they make it bigger than what it actually is," Cunningham said. "It's truly just a competition. It's a competition with more lights and more cameras and more eyes. That's it. I don't go in there gritting my teeth, like, 'Ohhhh!' It is what it is, man. It's laissez-faire.

"Do your job. Don't worry about anything else."

Capturing a CFFC title early in his professional run would be quite the accomplishment and help push Cunningham toward his new dream of competing in the UFC. Former champ Fernandez was just 5-0 when he got his call to Dana White's Contender Series, but Cunningham isn't concerned with all that right now.

"I learned very quickly not to rush things," Cunningham said. "You know, just take your time, and if it happens, it happens."

So out with the things he can't control, and in with the things he can. What the future holds remains to be seen, but Cunningham promises fireworks in the present.

"I want to do my f-cking job, to be honest with you," Cunningham said. "I want to do what the company's paying me to do: Come out there and put on a show. I want to do my job."