With victories over such respected names as Justin Levens, Jamal Patterson and Mike Ciesnolevicz, Tiger Sharks’ Reese Andy is fast making a name for himself as one of the IFL’s toughest light heavyweights.

Born in North Dakota, where he lived for the first two years of his life before moving to South Dakota for four years, Reese then settled with his family in Billings, Montana, where he wrestled at and graduated from Billings High School.

“Wrestling was basically my forte in high school:  I did college wrestling, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling,” says Andy, who admits it was the promise of material rewards that originally lured him to the sport. “Some kids from my elementary school had these wrestling trophies that they brought to show’n’tell. And my older brother and I wanted the trophies, so we started in wrestling.”

Whether it’s the risk of putting everything on the line in the IFL ring, or the thrill of having a punt at the table, Reese is a gambler at heart. “I like to play cards – Omaha, Texas Hold ’Em, and Five-Card Draw...”

When he took on Pitbulls star Jamal Patterson in one of the IFL superfights on December 29, 2006, Andy surprised a lot of people when he defeated the highly explosive Patterson – and by TKO. But for Reese it was no upset: “Maybe some people away from the sport of MMA or people unfamiliar with my background – they may have assumed I would have lost.

“And I’ve been working a little bit on everything, but focusing on striking. We’re doing kickboxing, takedowns, wrestling and submissions…”

Reese, could you give a brief rundown of your fight with Jamal, please?

“Okay, that was like two fights ago… I think we were just kinda feeling each other out in the first round, and there wasn’t a lot of heavy action: He was waiting for his moment and I was waiting for my moment. And I think I pressed the fight until one point in time he got close to a complete takedown, but I fended him off with a kimura until the referee had to start us back up, and Jamal didn’t want to pursue the takedown any further.

“Even in the second round, the only time Jamal hit me was with a spinning back-fist, which wasn’t flush but was powerful enough to knock me down. I hopped back up and I believe Jamal thought I was stunned and he took a poor shot at a double-leg takedown. I sprawled, naturally, because I saw him wait, and I punished him for that with some cross face and some blows to the body with an elbow, and then to his thigh. Jamal tried to spin to a chokehold and I made him pay for that too. His head hit pretty hard on the canvas after I hit him.

“He was a little bit rattled by then - that basically took him out of the fight when I was on top of him. After he attempted the heel hook, I split his legs and made him pay for it in half-guard with punches to the body and face. He was a little bit out of it, and my middle knuckle was hurting two weeks after the fight. It was still sensitive in my last fight, so I didn’t get to spar a whole lot for my last fight because my knuckles were still hurting from the Jamal fight.

“But when I was g’n’p-ing Jamal, he was covering up and I kept striking and striking him, and looking at the ref and striking some more, looking at the ref. I was thinking, ‘Okay, I’ll just keep striking some more.’ I didn’t want to hurt Jamal too badly because he was hurt a couple of minutes earlier when I caught him, and something wasn’t right: He wasn’t moving much. Usually, when you get a guy of his level of submissions, he’ll move more. So something wasn’t right – he got stunned pretty good, and he was more or less trying to survive the round, covering up, and the ref saw enough and came in.

“I talked to Jamal afterwards at the press conference, and he said he had also pulled his groin: That might have been when he was trying to go for the heel hook.”

Were you happy with your match against Condors’ Justin Levens?

“I would have liked it to have ended earlier, but I tend to complain and I’ve only had six fights. I’ll take the victory, although I don’t like them to go the distance. I won unanimously and I won all three rounds, so I was in control the whole time, and I think the only time he hit me was when I was on top of him.”

Your next fight is on April 7 against Alexander Zubachev. What do you know about Alexander?

“Nothing. Can you tell me something about him?”

No, but he’ll be fighting before that.

“He’s fighting Jamal, I think.”

Will you be at the Red Bears vs. the Pitbulls on February 23 to see the Jamal and Alexander fight?

“Probably not – Atlanta is a little far away from Seattle. I’ll see if I can get a copy of that fight.”

Are you back as a permanent on the Tiger Sharks now?

“Yes, I’ve got my spot back. And Maurice Smith likes to see me training, he likes to see me sparring, and more importantly – he likes to see victories. He wasn’t happy with my loss, but I wasn’t happy with my loss either, against Aaron Stark. I told Maurice that I knew where I made the mistake in that fight, and I told Stephen Quadros where I made the mistake. If I fight Aaron again, it will be a lot different.

“I’m ready for anybody: guys who have had twenty fights, twelve fights…. and guys who are debuting, and who I know nothing about. In this league (IFL), you’re not going to be able to hide from anybody – you’re going to get a fair chance, a fair crack at everybody. And I like that idea: There are a lot of combat sports that get too political, where they never get an opportunity based on their experience.”

Yeah, it can be like that with titleholders in some boxing organizations dodging contenders.

“And it is like that in some MMA organizations: You just never see some guys get a chance - they’ve got to climb a long ladder. In this one, Shad Lierley beat a guy who is a veteran, and we’re going to see guys who are debuting and guys who have a pretty long career in MMA. And we’ve got to be ready – we’ve got to be training all the time.”

Reese, is there anything you’d like to add?

“I’d like to thank my teammates for believing in me, and my coaches for being patient. Some times they want to see things over night, but it’s a progression – it’s learning. So I’m just thankful to the coaches for helping me, and to the teammates that I’ve had who have agreed to spar with me on days they didn’t want to.”