Jake Butler has two first-round knockout wins on his record and the American warned James Kouame that he would be looking to finish him off early in Jakarta as well.
The light heavyweight contest between the two MMA fighters will take place in Kojima vs Leone next month and is expected to be an explosive affair.
Butler dominated his two previous opponents and has been inside the cage for a cumulative total of just six minutes so far in his career. His pace has allowed him to achieve two rapid technical knockouts via punches against both Antoni Romulo and Swain Congco with the latter failing to even land a single blow during their bout in Singapore.
A former NCAA Division 1 wrestler during his time in the United States, Butler has clearly proven himself in the Asian MMA circuit and has been tasked with the challenge of facing a karate specialist in Impakt MMA’s Kouame.
But it is likely that it will be Kouame who will find himself cast in the underdog role as Butler’s aggressive style and extensive reach has seen him get called one of Asia’s top light heavyweight fighters. Butler will be doing the Canadian no favours and has already declared that he will seek to bring the fight to a swift close.
“I’ll be looking to finish it quickly. I mean that’s what you’d want from a fighter’s perspective, avoid injuries and get the win as swiftly as possible,” Butler told FOX Sports.
Kouame will be hoping to replicate the success achieved by Nobutatsu Suzuki who demonstrated greater dexterity and speed in his defeat of American boxer Phil Baroni in the previous One FC tournament in Manila.
“I don’t think the same thing is going to happen to me. I think Phil Baroni is a boxer and I’m a wrestler,” he continued.
“Of course, I’ve been working on my speed but I don’t think it’s going to pan out the same way.”
If he achieves a third straight win, many will likely call on One FC to make Butler the top contender for the vacant light heavyweight title and organise a fight to give the 30-year-old a chance to win the belt.
“I don’t pay attention to all that. It’s great [that I could get a shot] but I just concentrate on my fighting, you know?
“It hasn’t crossed my mind and I’ll leave that to the guys who decide the fights to make the final call. One FC has come up with some good match-ups and I am just going to fight whoever they pair me up with and whenever it happens.”
Despite his nonchalant attitude, he did admit that Evolve would be glad to add another champion to their roster. Currently, they boast Shinya Aoki, the One FC lightweight champion, as one of their own and will be hoping Butler continues to dominate the light heavyweight field.
“That’s definitely the dream [of having two champions at Evolve] but you can’t tell if that’s going to happen until it happens.
“I’m just going to do my best to win my fights and maybe win a belt someday, every fighter wants that.
“But I’m just going to focus on my next fight against James and I’ll be looking to end it quickly and get another win.”
