His journey then brought him to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he trained at JacksonWink, getting rounds with all-time UFC great Jon Jones, as well as various big bodies like Juan Adams and Devin Clark. When Jones and the gym went their separate ways, Kunneman was attracted to Denver, its MMA gym scene, and of course its mountains, which he frequently hikes with friend and fellow 2026 Dana White’s Contender Series fighter Logan Paxton.

“Climbing mountains is the best base for MMA,” Kunneman laughed. “That’s gonna be the new thing.”

Throughout his winding journey across the United States, Kunneman racked up experience. He learned not only how to be a fighter, but also a whole new tier of diabetic management. Training, fighting, weight cutting — everything needed its fine-tuning.

“Everything is so much harder,” Kunneman said. “People don’t think that I cut weight with diabetes, but I still cut a fair bit of weight. … The thing is, everything is harder with diabetes. For example, when my blood sugar is high, I take insulin; when it’s low, I gotta drink juice or sugar. So if you imagine you’re in your weight cut, a couple of days out from weigh-ins, and your blood sugar goes low, I have to literally drink or eat sugar, candy, juice, things you would not want to eat right when you’re getting ready to cut weight and make weight. If your blood sugar goes low in the middle of a training session, you’ve got to step off the mats and deal with it.

“You can research the symptoms of a severe low blood sugar or a severe high blood sugar, and I’ve literally trained through it because I knew how important it was to get my rounds in. One time I was sparring Neil Magny this camp, and I felt my sugar go low. We’re doing rounds, and I’m like, ‘You know what, I got five minutes, one more round, I’m gonna get through the round and deal with my blood sugar after.’ I don’t advise that, 100% do not advise that, because that can be really dangerous. I’m a bit of a veteran with diabetes, so I know when it’s urgent, like I’m gonna literally pass out and have to go off the mats, or I can make it through five minutes.”