Montana fighters train at Red Hawk Academy, follow Sean O'Malley path

Sean O’Malley’s rise from Helena to UFC champion has given Montana fighters something they rarely had before: a real, visible route to follow. Red Hawk Academy in Peoria, Arizona, where O’Malley trains, has become a magnet for prospects who now see the UFC path as a map they can actually read, not just imagine.

That shift is already showing up in the state’s fight scene. Ty Curry has moved from his home gym, Copper City Combat in Butte, to Red Hawk Academy for an upcoming bout, a sign that the O’Malley-linked network is carrying weight well beyond Arizona. Kyler Raiha, listed as a Montana amateur fighter, is ranked No. 6 among amateur men’s flyweights in Montana and owns a 2-0 amateur record, another young name tied to the same corridor from Montana to the national stage.

O’Malley’s own résumé explains why the pipeline now feels more concrete. The Helena native won the UFC bantamweight title in August 2023 and defended it in March 2024, turning a homegrown success story into a recruiting and motivation point for fighters and their families across Montana. He has said his Montana upbringing played a “huge role” in his UFC success, a message that resonates in a state where elite MMA training has often required leaving home and building a career elsewhere.

For years, that was the barrier: talented fighters in Helena, Butte and beyond had to leave Montana to find the kind of coaching, sparring and infrastructure that could sharpen a UFC run. O’Malley did exactly that by making his way to Arizona, and his success has made the choice easier to explain to the next wave. His family in Helena has described the attention around his climb as a “pinch-me” experience, a reflection of how far his reach has grown beyond Lewis and Clark County.

The broader test now is whether Helena becomes more than the hometown of a champion. With O’Malley, Great Falls native Tim Welch and Red Hawk Academy linked in the same Montana-to-UFC training corridor, younger fighters have a clearer model for what comes next. For prospects like Curry and Raiha, the lesson is no longer abstract: a fighter from Helena can leave Montana, win a UFC belt and turn a local upbringing into a national calling card.