MMAmania.com's 'Prospect Of The Month:' Jon Kunneman

03/13/2025 05:00 PM

The common goal among most up-and-coming regional (or international) mixed martial arts (MMA) prospects is to one day compete for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Other major promotions such as Bellator MMA, Professional Fighter's Leagues, and ONE Championship are not far behind. Literally, countless prospects across the globe are all working toward the same career goal, making it difficult to stand out in the sea of competition. As often as possible, MMAmania.com will highlight a different combat sports prospect to keep your eyes on.

Jon Kunneman

Age: 25

Height: 6'0"

Weight class: Welterweight/Middleweight

Record: 9-0

Gym: Elevation Fight Team

Being a type 1 diabetic has not stopped Jon Kunneman from trying to achieve his dreams of being a UFC fighter. He hopes to be the first diabetic fighter to win inside the world-famous Octagon. But that's not all. He wants to use the gigantic platform to raise awareness for diabetes and give other kids hope that they, too, can be professional athletes.

"I was sitting back and thinking the other day, I've taken 30,000+ insulin shots in my life to stay alive. It sounds crazy, right? I always wanted to be some sort of professional athlete, or be in the military, but I was told when I got diagnosed on my 11th birthday that all that wouldn't be possible," Kunneman told MMAMania.com recently. "And so for all of those kids that are out there dealing with what I had to deal with, you know, it's a life-changing disease, man, it's depressing. You feel hopeless."

"If I had someone like myself to inspire me and say, 'Hey, anything is possible, and you can chase your dreams no matter what it is as long as you work hard, that would have helped me a lot. So, that's what I want to do. I want to give back and do that for some other kid to be world-class in whatever profession they want. That gives me happiness to know I'm doing the right thing."

After high school, Kunneman trained at the infamous JacksonWink gym in New Mexico and stayed there for his entire amateur career. When he felt he needed more training partners to help him develop, he decided to go to Colorado and join the Elevation Fight Team. There, he trains with Kamaru Usman and Justin Gaethje, among others, and it is there that he has really found huge success.

Kunneman has a 100% finish rate, six submissions, and three knockouts, and is on the brink of being signed to the UFC. In fact, the promotion has already made the call twice, and there is a reason why: the 25-year-old has finished eight of his nine fights in under three minutes.

The Colorado-trained fighter starts fast and aggressively; if he doesn't knock his opponent out, he will strangle them with his wrestling.

The only big question is his gas tank, but training at altitude could really be his back pocket answer.

Nevertheless, Kunneman finally gets a chance to fight in front of more eyeballs as he competes on UFC Fight Pass next weekend (March 23, 2025) for Anthony Pettis FC 16: Milwaukee Fight Night 7 against Matthew Friesen (8-2).

With an impressive win, he hopes to get a UFC call again, or his backup plan is to compete in for a Canadian promotion ... the night before UFC travels to Montreal, Quebec, Canada for UFC 316.

While he truly thinks he'll get in the big show before season nine of Contender Series, he will fight on the show too.

"I just got to keep winning fights and if the UFC is not interested after this one or the next one, I'll just keep keep fighting," Kunneman concluded. "I'll keep fighting because eventually the more wins we get, the more undeniable we get. And if that's what I got to do to get in, then that's what I'm going to do."

Check out more highlights from Jon "AK47" Kunneman.

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