Cage Warriors Featherweight Luke Riley has called for his shot at the UFC, if the Cage Warriors 145lbs strap doesn’t align with his timeline.
The 24-year-old continued his impressive run at Cage Warriors 168 with a unanimous decision win against a highly experienced and durable John De Jesus.
Post fight, the Next Generation prospect spoke with Edith Labelle following his collected performance. Never one to pile the praise on himself, Riley gave an honest assessment of his performance and although, as with all fighters, the finish would have been ideal, he can still take a lot away from the 15 minutes inside the cage. He said:
“As always, if you know me by now, 9 fights in, it is what it is. I knew I was going to get the win. I would’ve liked the finish but as I said in my interview before hand, it is about getting a win at the end of the day. As long as the W is on the record that is all that matters. I am not really going to get myself too down about the finish or how it was, it was a learning curve out of a win so I will take it as that.”
In his last fight, which was crowed Cage Warriors fight of the year 2023, against Alexander Loof, Riley suffered a broken hand. His most recent outing was the first time he was back competing since the injury and felt he was slightly lacking confidence in throwing the fight ending shots that are synonymous with his style.
“He's experienced, nearly four times my fights, he’s long. Again, I think I’m coming out thinking they are a lot better than what they are, when I am a lot better than them and they are fearing me, I am not fearing them. I am coming out and I am bit too hesitant. As well, at the end of the day, it is my first fight since I broke my hand and I pulled the trigger a few times but it was, I would say, lacking a bit of confidence so yeah- the show goes on.
After controlling the fight for the large majority, De Jesus caught him with a flying knee. In a very uncharacteristic move, Riley was on the back foot and kept on with constant movement until he heard the final bell. When asked about it, he admitted that the knee zapped everything he had left and that the last half a minute he just needed to survive.
“I’ll be honest, he hurt me bad with the knee. I don’t know what he timed me with but it was a jumping knee. He is a southpaw obviously and it sucked all of the energy out of me. I just got on my bike for the last 30 seconds to survive and got the W so live to fight another day.”
With team mates Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann already signed to the UFC, and Nathan Fletcher set to compete on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, Riley wants to add his name to the list of athletes representing the Liverpool gym inside the octagon.
“I am up for the belt next. If that doesn’t align with my timeline, I’ve heard the UFC are coming to Manchester, I am a crowd pleaser get me on UFC Manchester. Dana, come on, make the call. I am 24 now, I need to start making some dough.”
You can watch the full post-fight interview, below:
