Mike Riley (fighter)
Mike Riley is an Irish-American amateur full contact kickboxer. He is currently a member of team LAKA Control and fights predominantly in his home state of Florida.
Biography
Born in Orlando, Florida Riley began his martial arts training at the age of 6 in Yoshukai karate. While studying traditional karate, Riley excelled at sparring and began competing at the age of 8. Although he competed in various tournaments at a young age, it was not until he 14 did he become seriously involved in the tournament circuit. Riley would fight on the FAME 2K circuit, a promoting body for open karate tournaments in Florida and occasionally on the NASKA circuit. He would compete as a member of Team Impressive, an upstart national karate team. During his time competing on the tournament circuit Riley would win a state championship in sparring and would go on in 2002 to win the US Open of Martial Arts in his division. In the spring of 2003 the age of 16, Riley would try out for and gain a spot on the US National Kickboxing Team which was set to compete in the IAKSA World Championships to be held in Orlando,Florida. Riley would go on to win a gold medal (world championship) that year in his weight division by beating an Austrian fighter. In 2004 and 2005 Riley made the US National Kickboxing Team yet again, for a total of three years in a row. He would not compete in the 2004 World Championships with the team, due to family commitments, yet returned in 2005 with a solid performance in Niagara Falls, Canada at the WKA World Championships. He would fall just short of medaling that year after a split decision loss to Germany. He did however win the 2005 US Open tournament in the continuous division.
Career
In addition he has won numerous matches in point sparring during his days of competing in karate tournaments.. He currently fights at Lightheavyweight 170-180 lbs.
Awards and titles
- 2001 FAME 2K 14-15 Advanced boys sparring state champion.
- 2002 US Open Champion: 14-15 Advanced boys sparring champion
- 2003 IAKSA World Point Fighting Champion: Light-middleweight division
- 2005 US Open Champion: Mens 18-29 Continuous Division
- 2001-Present: Member of Team Impressive
- 2004-Present: Member of Team L.A.K.A Control
- 2003-2005 Member of US National Kickboxing Team (Point and Continuous)