MMA fans know him as Cris Williams, but from here on out the Bellator featherweight will go by the name Cris Lencioni after legally changing it.

Lencioni (4-1 MMA, 1-1 BMMA), who fights Tywan Claxton at Bellator 204 this month, has many negative feelings about his previous surname. It was forced upon him as a child when his mother remarried, and the actions of his stepfather as he grew up made it more and more difficult to be associated with the Williams name.

Several years have passed with Lencioni pondering a name change. He already had it tattooed across his chest but finally decided to go through the legal process ahead of his wedding in October. The 24-year-old went back to the family name his grandfather brought over from Italy, allowing him to “finally feel free” from his past.

“I didn’t have the best upbringing,” Lencioni told MMAjunkie. “That last name Williams was actually the name of my stepfather in my youth. My actual family name is Lencioni, and it comes from Italy. My grandfather stormed the beaches of Normandy, and this guy was the ultimate man. Chuck Norris couldn’t hold a flame to this guy. I asked him for permission to take that name back. I’ve been wanting to do it for the last six or seven years, and I got the courage to ask him. I’m carrying on the family name. It’s really special to me.”

Lencioni said he has a small family that he’s able to count on one hand. He cares deeply about those close to him, and with the Lencioni name fading away after the passing of his grandparents, he wanted to not only distance himself from Williams but also keep the legacy alive.

He had good reason to do so.

“(My stepfather was) a typical BS story of things you shouldn’t do to kids,” Lencioni said. “I learned every lesson in life the wrong way, and kids shouldn’t learn about things the way I learned about things. It’s just a step-dude who came into the picture and totally destroyed my life for a little bit.”

Lencioni keeps family so close to heart that it ultimately led to his first MMA loss. After starting his career with four consecutive wins, Lencioni had a family incident prior to his fight against Daniel Carey at Bellator 195 in March. Lencioni said it completely altered his mental state going into the fight, and he wound up on the wrong end of a unanimous decision.

“My grandfather fell down the stair, and they said, ‘He’s fine. We’ll talk about it after your fight,'” Lencioni said. “So it was in my head. I haven’t had to deal with that stuff too much since my youth, and I went in with a totally different mindset than I ever have with fighting, and that’s exactly why I lost. Going in with the wrong mindset, I realized how powerful mindset can be.”

With a new name and a new outlook, Lencioni said he’s ready to rebound and get back on track in his fight with Claxton (2-0 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) on Aug. 17 at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., with Lencioni vs. Claxton set to air on the Paramount-televised main card following prelims on MMAjunkie.

The fight with Claxton isn’t necessarily personal, but there is certainly some animosity. Claxton has called out Lencioni in the past, but then cranked up the volume after he suffered his first loss earlier this year. Naturally, that didn’t sit well with Lencioni.

“It just shows how weak-minded he is,” Lencioni said. “He has a weak character, because that’s not what a strong person would do. You don’t immediately kick someone when they’re down. You can definitely go a different way to call somebody out, so I was like, ‘Sweet, that guy’s weak. I would definitely like to fight him.’ He called me out right after I lost. That’s a weak guy.

“I saw an interview, and I was listening to him talk, and I was getting a headache. I couldn’t stop staring at this big gap in his teeth, and I’m like, ‘This guy’s a featherweight? He already thinks he’s the (expletive)?’ I had to shut that down.”

Claxton is viewed as one of the potential up-and-comers for Bellator at 145 pounds. He earned a viral flying knee knockout in his MMA debut at Bellator 186 in November then followed it up with a TKO win in his sophomore bout at Bellator 194 in February.

One person who is not impressed by Claxton is Lencioni. He doesn’t see the hype around “Air” as justified, and he intends to prove why at Bellator 204.

“I’m going to out-wrestle him, I’m going to out-strike him, and I’m going to out-clinch him,” Lencioni said. “He doesn’t have the tools. I don’t think he’s that good of a wrestler. I’m not impressed by anything he has.”

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