Riverhead’s Lawrence Bishop is making waves in the MMA community

The moment Riverhead native Lawrence Bishop III steps into a mixed martial arts cage, everything he endured and carries on his back spills out on the mat.

Every trial and tribulation he went through growing up, the pressure of trying to provide for his kids, the hours upon hours of training when nobody is watching — it all boils over as he puts his body on the line fight after fight while only making pennies on the dollar.

“Amateur MMA is no joke,” Bishop said. “The goal is to go pro because at this level, we don’t get paid anything to get continually punched in the face. It’s all a part of the journey, though. I picked this path, and I want to see it through to the highest level.”

When Bishop, 25, was just 5 years old, his father, Lawrence Bishop Jr., passed away from cancer. Everything he looked up to was gone. All the years of being under his father’s wing and learning how to be a man — gone. Because his mother wasn’t in his life at the time, Bishop moved in with his grandparents. 

By 9 years old, his grandfather passed, and subsequently after, his grandmother had a stroke.

“Honestly, I was homeless after that,” Bishop said. “I was sleeping on the floor of my friend’s house. It was rough growing up; I went through a lot of stuff. I got bullied all the time as well, which didn’t help my situation. Thank God my mother eventually came back into my life because I’m not sure how I would have ended up.”

While at Riverhead High School, Bishop tried out for the wrestling team and found success in his first year — as a sophomore — placing in the league tournament and making it to the counties. He stuck with wrestling the rest of his time in Riverhead, but by junior year, he started training more in grappling and incorporating MMA techniques.

Wrestling was fun, but he started to gravitate more toward MMA. 

After graduating, he wanted to stay in shape, so he continued to train. But after seeing fellow Riverhead MMA fighter Mike Basile fight, Bishop made the choice to start pursuing the sport competitively.

“Man, I always looked up to Mike,” Bishop said. “He was like my big brother and still is. We train together all the time, but seeing him knock a dude out in a minute was something I wanted to do. This is the only sport where you can punch someone and not go to jail.”

On June 1, 2024, Bishop made his competitive debut and won a unanimous decision against Adilet Chamashov. His second fight, however, was riddled with controversy.

On Feb. 22, 2025, Bishop faced off against Luis Sanchez, and despite winning the first round 10-8 and having seven minutes of control time throughout the nine-minute match, the referee ruled that Bishop was holding onto the cage and deducted a point for each of the three rounds.

“He didn’t call it when it happened, or if it even happened,” Bishop said. “He came to us after the round was over and said he was deducting a point. Usually, it’s called during the fight, not afterward. He did that every single round, and because of all the deductions, even though I feel like I completely dominated, they gave me the split decision loss.”

Bishop tried all avenues to appeal the decision after the fight, especially after he found out that the opponent’s coach was friends with the referee. But, ultimately, all that was done was that the referee was banned from officiating one of Bishop’s fights again.

After knocking out Ronald Battle in the first round in his next fight, the rematch against Luis Sanchez was set. This time, it would be for the Flex Fights Middleweight championship. 

“We were talking so much trash leading up to the fight,” Bishop said. “He thought he won the first fight fair and was going to knock me out this time around. Even though in all the buildup there was so much back and forth, right before the match, I shook his hand and got super calm. I think it messed with his head.”

In just a minute into the opening round, Sanchez was knocked out on the canvas, and Bishop earned his first amateur MMA championship.

“I didn’t want to leave it in the judge’s hands like last time,” Bishop said. “I wanted to get in and out of that fight. I was confident I could, and I took care of business.”

Bishop will now take part in Jack Hammer Promotions Middleweight Championship on June 28 against Muhamed Aly. It will be the main event of the evening at Mulcahy’s Concert Hall in Wantagh. Tickets can be purchased at Jackhammerfights.com.

“He’s a tall, lanky dude,” Bishop said. “He’s like 6’5, so it’s going to be a different matchup than I’m used to, but I think I’ll finish him. I’ve been watching so much film of him, and stylistically I feel like I have an advantage.”

Within the next few fights, if all goes well, Bishop is planning on going pro. He’s aiming for a chance at one of the top promotions like UFC or PFL. 

“That’s the goal with this all,” Bishop said, who works for Southampton Hospital in transport for his day job. “I want to be able to provide for my family. I have a wife and two kids, I have a mortgage payment. I can’t keep doing this for free. But I know there’s a path to get there. It’s a popularity contest, and you need to win, so I’m going to take care of both. 

In addition to his 3-1 record, Bishop has 122K followers on Instagram.

“They want exciting fights,” Bishop said. “They want people who can sell tickets. I’m going in there every time with the intention of knocking the guy out. I’m that guy. I think I’m almost ready. I know my dad’s watching down on me every fight, and I know he’s proud.”