Luke Riley Was Meant To Be Here

“(Pressure) is part of life,” Riley told UFC.com. “I feel like it's just like not just fighters. Everyone has pressures to do (whether) that's a day job, a 9 to 5, a fighter. Whatever you may be, there's always pressures. If you have a family, if there's loads of pressures. But I feel like that's just something you've got to accept. It comes with life, pressure. So yeah, just it's one of them.”

Riley isn’t the most outspoken person, nor is he one to make a bunch of posts promoting himself on social media, although he is “trying to get on board with that.” He just loves to fight, and he picks that out as a reason why fight fans are gravitating toward him so early in his career. 

“I leave it all in the cage,” he said. “Feel like I’m sort of like an old school throwback sort… I just love to fight, and so I feel like that's what people like about me. There's no gimmicks or ballocks. It's just: I get in the cage and do what I need to do.”

When it comes to actually fighting, Riley always says he is “emotionless,” so the pressure to live up to expectations and perform kickstarts his proverbial engine. That’ll come tenfold on March 21 when he competes in London’s O2 Arena, just a short train ride down from his home base in Liverpool.

Riley didn’t feel all too taken with the UFC machine when he made his debut against Bogdan Grad in Qatar. In his mind, fighting is the same whether it’s outside or in an arena full of 20,000 people. Joining the mixed martial arts leader came with some more notoriety and a bit more media, but otherwise, it “felt the same” as always. 

His performance said as much. Riley got to a slow start as Grad tried to steal momentum early with a grappling-heavy attack, but he weathered the storm, regrouped between rounds, and scored the knockout shot early in the second round with a picture-perfect left hook. Despite his high amount of self-belief, scoring a finish in the Octagon bolstered Riley’s conviction. 

“Biggest takeaway was probably just more so the confidence in myself within the level I was at,” he said. “You get to finish it in your UFC debut, and you know you’re meant to be here."

If that result didn’t do it, his next assignment certainly does. For his second bout, Riley slots into the co-main event against Michael Aswell Jr., a spot both Aswell and Riley felt surprised about. Riley learned of the news on a flight back from Thailand when he found a spot of a wifi connection. 

While Riley understands some of the criticism of a fighter with a single win under his belt getting such a prominent opportunity, all he can really do is go out, fight, turn doubters into believers, and make everyone look back a year from now and understand why he was given the chance.  

“People don't realize, like most prospects, we've got to start somewhere. Everyone was a prospect in the beginning. So yeah, this is just my beginning, so I want to make it a good one.

“I feel like they'll be saying, ‘Now we know why the UFC made him the co-main. He is one of the best prospects in the 145-pound division.’”