Reese Andy

Reese Paul Andy is an American mixed martial artist. He has previously fought for the UFC and is a former member of the Seattle Tiger Sharks in the IFL. Andy was born on 31st of March, 1973 in Minot, North Dakota, United States. He also goes by the name “Riptide”.

reese andy

Career

Andy grew up in a family where all his four brothers were All-American Wrestlers. He started organized wrestling in the eighth grade. Then he became a three-time 4-A state champion at the Skyview High School in Billings, Montana. He earned a bronze medal in the 1991 Greco-Roman Junior World Championships.

He also participated in the 1993 World Espoir Greco-Roman Championships. Andy then wrestled for the Wyoming Cowboys from 1994-1996 in the 177-pound division. In each of his three seasons, he earned All-America honors finishing sixth nationally in 1995 at his weight and second in 1994 and 1996. He ranked seventh in school history with 110 career wins.

reese andy

Andy also ranked seventh with 38 wins in a single season (1996) and completed his collegiate career. He earned a place in the Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004. Andy was a competitor at the 2003 and 2005 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship. He won 1 match and lost 1 match in the 2003 competition at both the 88 kg division and absolute divisions. He won and lost one match each in the 88 kg division and lost in the absolute division in 2005.

More About Andy

Seeing the success college wrestlers were having in the sport, Andy began training in mixed martial arts in 2000 and turned pro in 2005. He won two fights with the SuperBrawl promotion in Hawaii. Later, the upstart International Fight League signed him. In the International Fight League, Andy recorded a 5-1 record in six bouts and posting his first career loss against fellow collegiate wrestler Aaron Stark. He fought against Krzysztof Soszynski on June 1, 2007, in the main event of IFL.

reese andy

He defeated the much larger and more experienced Soszynski despite coming in just over the heavyweight minimum at 208 pounds via split decision. Andy also signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) after his win over Soszynski. He made his UFC debut against Brandon Vera but lost via unanimous decision at UFC: Silva Vs Irvin in Las Vegas, Nevada on the 19th of July, 2008. He again lost to Matt Hamill via TKO in the second round at UFC 92 on the 27th of December, 2008 and was cut from the UFC.

Andy runs his own gym and teaches MMA classes at the West Coast Fight team in Auburn, Washington currently.