Jake Butler (7-1) may not be a household name in his home country of America, but in the Far East he's fast becoming one of the biggest names in ONE Championship. 

Having won four of the bouts at light heavyweight, Butler is now heading down to middleweight for his next fight against Marcin Prachnio at ONE: Titles & Titans on Aug. 27.

Butler is fully focused on becoming a world champion in ONE Championship, but that wasn't always the case. Butler was once a white-collar worker on Wall Street with Thor Equities. The office lifestyle, however, didn't quench his competitive thirst. After two and a half years, Butler got bored of the monotonous routine and decided to quit his job to move to Southeast Asia in 2008.

"I wrestled my entire life, from about the time I was 8 years [old] through university," Butler said. "After graduating from Princeton, I decided to do what most of my classmates did and take a corporate job.  

"The pay was good, but I was extremely unhappy. I just wasn't ready to resign myself to sitting at a desk for 12 hours a day. I was a big fan of MMA, and I had watched a lot of my peers in wrestling start to have a lot of success in MMA. I decided that it was something I needed to do. I still felt the drive to compete and be an athlete, so MMA was the most obvious path."

In 2011, Butler was offered a place on the Evolve MMA fight team by owner Chatri Sityodtong. Butler accepted the offer and has since trained with the team in Singapore.

"Evolve MMA were the first ones to give me an opportunity to pursue my dream," Butler said. "I really liked everything that they and ONE Championship were doing to build the sport in Asia, and I feel very fortunate that I was able to get a contract to fight for them.  So far it has been an amazing journey fighting for ONE Championship. They have taken really good care of me." 

Working alongside the some of the sport's top trainers, Butler's evolution was rapid. 

"I joined the Evolve Fight Team at Evolve MMA in Singapore in 2011 and I'm lucky to have multiple World Champions in all the different martial art disciplines here to work with," he said. "Our head coach is U.S. Olympic Wrestler Heath Sims, and he oversees all of our training. I also work a lot with the Muay Thai and BJJ World Champions at Evolve."

In just under two weeks time, Butler faces one of the toughest challenges in his career to date when he faces Polish mixed martial artist Marcin Prachnio (11-2). Butler isn't expecting an easy night in Jakarta and isn't underestimating his opponent whatsoever.

"He's a big, strong kid with a background in karate," Butler said. "He definitely comes to fight and throws some heavy punches. I believe I am a little more well rounded though, and that is what MMA is all about. Working with all the World Champions at Evolve has helped with this. You have to have all the skills or you won't survive in this game. One thing I can guarantee is that on fight night, you're going to see a finish."

Having once spent days on end in an office chair in New York dealing with complicated asset management projects, life for Butler is a lot more simple now. It revolves around just one goal.

"I want to win the ONE Championship middleweight world title," Butler said. "I want to have the belt around my waist by the end of 2016."