Highlands grad Julian Flenory applies lessons, wins MMA fight

Julian Flenory circled off the cage away from Jeremy Riley, trying to blink out the pain. Only moments into a heavyweight professional MMA fight Saturday at Sunny Days Arena, Riley had stung Flenory with a combination that made the Highlands graduate want to collect his thoughts.

Instead of wading forward, Flenory played it safe and showed he learned lessons from his professional debut last February.

Flenory got to safety and set the tone for the rest of the fight by working to a clinch and scoring a takedown.

He refused to engage in a firefight and instead grappled his way to a 30-27 unanimous decision win during the 247 Fighting Championships at the Venue 2 event.

“If I’m in danger, I have Mat Factory wrestling that I’ve been doing for 10 years now,” Flenory said. “I needed to circle away and get ready to grapple. Chris Williams, my striking coach, taught me how to use my footwork to get out of a bad position so I can get into the pocket exchange and make my punches.”

Flenory (1-1) lost his debut when he was knocked out by Nelson Best in 74 seconds at Mountaineer Casino. Riley, who lives in Ohio, was an opponent who possesses knockout power as well.

Between Riley’s 11 amateur and professional fights, seven were stopped in the first round. Riley (1-2) was disappointed he didn’t manage his range well.

After his success early in the first round, Riley was unable to trap Flenory along the cage again.

“I was confident in the striking,” Riley said. “I could see it was working. I guess I got too overconfident and leaned in too much. He got ahold of me.”

Flenory’s wrestling put him in positions to finish the fight at the end of the first and second rounds. In both instances, Flenory was in top position raining down strikes when the bell sounded to end the round.

“I thought I was going to put him away in the first round and the second round,” Flenory said. “I was punching the (expletive) out of him. It just didn’t work out that way. His nickname is ‘Undead’ for a reason, and I couldn’t finish him.”

Riley wasn’t happy with how the fight went once he hit the mat.

“I know I did horrible on the ground,” Riley said. “I was just holding on for my life. The shots weren’t really hurting too much. I was just gassed.”

Flenory said he didn’t take too much damage during the fight. He is hoping to turn around and have another fight before the end of the year.

“I had a really good amateur career, and I had a bump in my first pro fight,” Flenory said. “This gets me back to .500. This was a good shine for me. I want to keep building off this.”