Local MMA Fighter Paul Reihner Living a Dream
By Matt Shetler
by Matt Shetler
When trying to reconnect with someone from your high school, there are several places to look. The phone book is a place to start and with social networks dominating society, you can look up almost anyone on the internet these days.
One of the last places you would look though is the octagon, but that’s exactly where you can find Trinity High School graduate Paul Reihner these days. Yet that’s exactly where you can find Reihner Friday night as he prepares for his seventh career Mixed Martial Arts fight at the Syria Shriners Pavillion in Cheswick, PA.
Reihner, a Washington, PA, resident and former high school wrestler and football player turned to the world of MMA a little over three years ago and hasn’t looked back.
“I just love to compete,” said Reihner. “I love to train and I love to compete. Fighting gives me goals to achieve and it allows me to compete and gives me motivation to stay in shape.”
Reihner trains locally and will bring a solid wrestling ability and excellent stand up game into his fight against Johnstown, PA’s, Roy Merriman. Merriman may be a decade younger than Reihner and a good young athlete, but will have his hands full on Friday with a focused Reihner, who is known as “The Wrecking Ball.”
“He’s a talented young athlete,” added Reihner. “But I’ve been training well and am in great shape. I will look to end it by submission.”
Currently Reihner sits at 5-1 in his MMA career and while his record is impressive, so is the way he got there.
Reihner serves as a junior varsity wrestling coach for Trinity High School in Washington, PA. and has spent some time training fighters. The urge of being around the mat was too much to resist and Reihner had to find a way to get involved. He got his first fight a little over three years ago for the Cage of Chaos promotion and hasn’t looked back since.
“I was training some fighters and I really enjoy coaching young wrestlers,” said Reihner. “But after doing it for a while, I realized I wanted to get involved myself. I missed the competition that much.”
Some may think it’s odd that a guy in his thirties would decide to get involved in a sport where there is a serious risk of injury, but Reihner likely got involved at the right time, considering the rise in popularity of the sport.
“I loved the sport from day one,” added Reihner. “I really enjoyed watching guys like Royce Gracie when I was in high school. It would have been great to get involved then, but there was nowhere to train. Back then who heard of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and where would I have learned it.”
It took some time but eventually there became places to train and Reihner learned a solid Jiu-Jitsu which he uses effectively. He’s learned the craft under one of his trainer’s Marshal Carper at Steel City Martial Arts.
“Marshall is tremendous,” said Reihner. “He’s helped me out so much. Being a wrestler, he was able to take the Jiu-Jitsu and break it down for me in a wrestling form. It’s been pretty effective so far.”
Reihner prefers taking on about three fights a year, but hasn’t fought since last November. Even though he hasn’t fought in about eight months, he remains dedicated to the craft training six days a week. While he has a desire to fight, Reihner is also committed to coaching and doesn’t like to take on fights during high school wrestling season.
All the training should pay off as he gets ready for his fight against Merriman.
On the night of the fight, Reihner is an oddity of sorts. You won’t see a fighter who’s real pumped up expending unnecessary energy. Instead you will see a focused, laid back guy that’s just looking to take care of business.
“I’m very laid back and relaxed,” added Reihner. “Even the doctor’s have commented on how calm I am and how low my blood pressure stays. I just like to enjoy the spectacle.”
Friday’s fight will be a lightweight bout for the new promotion Gladiators of the Cage. No matter who he fights for, the strategy remains the same.
“I simply look to isolate my opponent’s weakness and then turn to my strengths,” said Reihner. “If he has a good stand up game, I’m going to take him down to the mat and submit him and just the opposite is true if he is strong on the mat.”
While Reihner seems to have his game plan all figured out inside the cage, his toughest opponent may come at home, as his wife Emily doesn’t like to see him fight.
“Oh she hates it, but she supports me,” said Reihner. “My kids like it, but they are just starting to get old enough to realize what I’m doing.”
Tickets are still available for Friday evening’s Gladiators of the Cage card at the Syria Shriners Pavillion in Cheswick, PA.
Follow City of Champions Sports on Twitter!