Matt Riddle reveals why he fought at 170 pounds in the UFC
Matt Riddle recently opened up about his MMA career and revealed what led to his decision to compete at 170-pounds as opposed to 185-pounds during his UFC tenure.
The former MMA fighter-turned-pro wrestling superstar earned his opportunity to compete in the UFC following his stint on season 7 of 'The Ultimate Fighter.' Despite being eliminated in the preliminary round, he had arguably the most memorable win. He later earned a contract with the promotion following his win over Dante Rivera in the finale.
During his recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Riddle brought up that he was forced to make a difficult decision to drop down to welterweight as a result of the opponents he was being offered so soon into his career. He mentioned that the promotion was offering him veterans who were competing at the top of the division, while he only had one professional MMA bout on his resume. He said:
"They [UFC] offered me two fights at middleweight. They go, 'Do you wanna fight [Rousimar] Palhares?'...He heel hooks everybody and doesn't let go, he got kicked out of the UFC for that. And then Dan Henderson... These guys are legends already and I'm just like, 'Who do I get if I drop down to 170 [pounds]?' They go, 'Steve Bruno from American Top Team'."
Moving down to welterweight ended up being a great decision as Riddle had success in the UFC, earning a 6-3-2 record at 170-pounds, despite not having any prior experience competing at a professional level.
Matt Riddle says he's open to fighting again
Matt Riddle last competed in an MMA bout in 2014 before devoting himself to professional wrestling, but recently expressed interest in fighting again.
During the aforementioned appearance, the 38-year-old noted that he has had some brief talks with a number of promotions, including bare-knuckle, and mentioned that he would be open to competing. He said:
"It's [MMA] is a very difficult world but I've talked to multiple promotions, I've talked to bare-knuckle...and I've told them you know, we could talk fights or numbers or anything, but I said, 'If the money's right and the fight's right, I'm down for whatever'." [11:01 - 11:12]
Check out the full interview below: