After learning the hard way, heavyweight from Highlands ready to main event MMA card

Julian Flenory thought his game plan would end with his hand getting raised during his professional MMA debut last February. But the Highlands graduate got caught up in the moment at Mountaineer Casino Resort.

Nelson Best caught Flenory with a left hook, earning a stoppage 74 seconds into their heavyweight bout.

“I got into a firefight with a skillful boxer,” said Flenory, who lives in Natrona Heights. “Those things happen all the time. I was hoping to use my kicks, get him to the ground and use my ground game to secure a submission. It didn’t work out that way.”

Flenory, 29, will have an opportunity to show what he has learned in the months since his first fight. Flenory will headline the 247 Fighting Championships MMA at the Venue 2 card on Sept. 6 at Sunny Days Arena.

Isaac Greeley, who owns The Mat Factory and trains Flenory, said his fighter learned a valuable lesson in his pro debut. Making a successful transition to fighting professionally requires taking more educated risks.

“He doesn’t need to do that all the time,” Greeley said. “He got away with that as an amateur and got a lot of crazy knockouts by doing that. At this level, you need to be more calculated. That’s something he’s been working on lately. It’s a good lesson to learn, and I want to see him work beyond that now.”

Jeremy Riley, who is Flenory’s opponent, will be willing to try to drag him into a firefight. Both of Riley’s professional fights have ended inside the first round.

Riley, who is from Akron, Ohio, has a 1-1 professional record.

Flenory, who was 4-1 as an amateur, secured four first- or second-round knockouts before turning pro and expects action in this fight.

“He’s very resilient,” Flenory said. “He has a few come-from-behind wins that should be fight-of-the-year candidates. He’s not a guy to take lightly. I like that I will be facing off against an opponent who wants to win as much as I do.”

Flenory picked up MMA during his time playing football at Clarion. He wrestled with Toby and Taylor Cahill, who were on the Golden Eagles’ wrestling team, despite having no wrestling experience.

The Cahills introduced him to the Mat Factory. Flenory started training at the Lower Burrell-based gym in 2018.

“He was always a super athletic kid and a hard worker,” Greeley said. “He didn’t have any formal wrestling experience. He learned at The Mat Factory. That’s what we do.”

Flenory took his first fight at middleweight, which is the 185-pound weight class. He always had the idea that he needed to fight at heavyweight.

“After I was playing college football, when I got into mixed martial arts, I got my weight down from 270 pounds to 225,” Flenory said. “That’s when I got talked into making a 40-pound weight cut to 185. That was a one-time thing.”

Flenory is excited to be in his first main event. It will be the second MMA card in 247 Fighting Championships’ new venue.

“I don’t take the honor lightly,” Flenory said. “I’ve watched them grow as a promotion, and I want to grow alongside them. This won’t be my last main event.”