GREAT FALLS \u2014 For years, Montana fighters chasing the UFC dream often had to imagine the path before they could see it.<\/p>\n
Now that path is becoming easier to follow.<\/p>\n
What began with Great Falls native Tim Welch building the Red Hawk Academy gym in Arizona helped Helena\u2019s Sean O\u2019Malley become Montana\u2019s first UFC champion. Earlier this month, Great Falls\u2019 Tommy McMillen added another milestone by winning his UFC debut.<\/p>\n
Now, Valier\u2019s Ty Curry and Butte\u2019s Kyler Raiha are the latest Montana fighters following that blueprint.<\/p>\n
WATCH: Kyler Raiha and Ty Curry chasing UFC dreams in Arizona<\/p>\n
Montana\u2019s MMA pipeline grows as Ty Curry, Kyler Raiha chase UFC dreams at Red Hawk<\/p>\n
The two moved to Arizona together in November to train full-time at Red Hawk, where they now live together in one of O\u2019Malley\u2019s properties as they pursue UFC dreams.<\/p>\n
Raiha said the path to Red Hawk began in Butte through family friend Kevin Maloney, a Butte police officer and close friend of his father, who had worked with Sean O\u2019Malley\u2019s father, Dan.<\/p>\n
That introduction led Raiha and Dan O\u2019Malley to stay in touch as Raiha\u2019s fighting career progressed. After Raiha picked up a pair of early wins, Dan reached out with an opening that changed everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe called one day and said, \u2018Sean\u2019s got an opening in his house. How serious are you about this fight life?\u2019\u201d Raiha said. \u201cI said there\u2019s no plan B, this is it. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dan O\u2019Malley said seeing Raiha\u2019s journey come full circle has been one of the most rewarding parts of the growing Montana MMA network.<\/p>\n
\u201cFour years ago, Kyler got ahold of me and said, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re going to be at the fights in Great Falls. Is there any way we can meet Sean?\u2019\u201d O\u2019Malley said. \u201cAnd now today, Tommy McMillen comes down here to watch Tyler and Kyler fight. It\u2019s just insane how tight-knit this whole group is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Curry made the move southwest alongside Raiha, and the two have helped make the transition easier on each other. They train together every day at Red Hawk, then keep the work going when they get home, holding mitts for each other after practice and helping one another through the daily grind of camp.<\/p>\n
For Raiha, making the move with Curry turned a difficult leap into something manageable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big step,\u201d Raiha said. \u201cThere\u2019s some lonely moments, but when you\u2019re down, you always got a guy to pick you up. He\u2019s always in a good mood, honestly. If you\u2019re dealing with something outside of camp, inside of camp, he\u2019s always there for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Curry, the decision became easier because the path had already been proven by Montana fighters before them.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve seen what Sean\u2019s done. You\u2019ve seen what Tommy\u2019s done this year,\u201d Curry said. \u201cThat\u2019s the goal. They\u2019re laying the path, and it\u2019s cool that they got to where they\u2019re at. I think it\u2019s just awesome that Montana\u2019s doing well in MMA.\u201d<\/p>\n
That path was visible again Saturday night in Great Falls.<\/p>\n
Just days after winning his UFC debut, McMillen returned home and cornered both Curry and Raiha at a Fusion Fight League card in Great Falls, where both fighters earned victories. <\/p>\n
Raiha recorded a fourth round submission over Tony Garcia to improve his amateur record to 3-0, while Curry moved to 5-0 after a unanimous decision over Chad Stephens.<\/p>\n
McMillen said helping the next wave of Montana fighters has become one of the most meaningful parts of his own rise.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been dope,\u201d McMillen said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a couple more guys come out since I signed with the UFC.\u201d<\/p>\n
From Great Falls and Helena to Butte and Valier, Montana\u2019s MMA blueprint continues to grow.<\/p>\n
Now Curry and Raiha are hoping they\u2019re the next names to follow it all the way to the UFC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GREAT FALLS \u2014 For years, Montana fighters chasing the UFC dream often had to imagine the path before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,295592,785,295593,13421,85,192752,295594,295595],"class_list":{"0":"post-607652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-kyler-raiha","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-red-hawk-academy","14":"tag-sean-omalley","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-tim-welch","17":"tag-tommy-mcmillen","18":"tag-ty-curry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}