Tag: broken ribs

And Now He’s Retired: Matt Riddle Suffers Rib Injury Before Bellator Debut, Needs to Find Real Job


(Riddle’s doctor described the injury as occurring “right about in the toadstool-area.” Photo via Sherdog)

After getting fired by the UFC for a second positive marijuana test and ensuring that he’d never be back inside the Octagon by insulting Dana White’s business acumen and bald head, Matt “Deep Waters” Riddle was preparing to transition to Bellator later this month in a welterweight tournament quarterfinal against Luis Melo Jr. But thanks to another training injury, that fight’s not going to happen, and the TUF 7 vet says he’s stepping away from the sport altogether. As he wrote on Facebook last night:

I’m retiring from MMA today cracked my rib and can’t fight sept 20, Bellator said they can’t find me a fight till the next tournament and I can’t afford not fighting that long and need a job, sorry if I let anyone down but it isn’t paying the bills

Injuries have haunted Riddle’s professional career, which was spent entirely in the UFC. (Like his fellow TUF 7 castmate Amir Sadollah, Riddle only had amateur experience when he tried out for The Ultimate Fighter.) During his five years in the Octagon, Riddle had to withdraw from four scheduled fights due to injury and was pulled off of UFC 141 just hours before the event due to illness.

Making a living as a low-to-mid-level UFC fighter is hard enough when you’re fighting consistently. But if we’re going to talk about lost wages, we have to mention the fines and suspensions that Riddle received from his two separate positive marijuana tests, which he caught following his victories over Chris Clements (which originally earned him Submission of the Night honors at UFC 149) and Che Mills. Both of those wins were overturned to no-contests, leaving Riddle with a lifetime record of 7-3 with 2 no-contests, which would have been a more respectable 9-3 if he didn’t smoke so much damn weed.

Riddle’s latest setback was the last straw for him financially, and he’ll now try to enter general population and get a non-fighting job. (A “regular, you know, job, job-type job,” as Mr. Blonde would say.) But enough doom and gloom. Let’s look at Matt Riddle’s achievements…


(Riddle’s doctor described the injury as occurring “right about in the toadstool-area.” Photo via Sherdog)

After getting fired by the UFC for a second positive marijuana test and ensuring that he’d never be back inside the Octagon by insulting Dana White’s business acumen and bald head, Matt “Deep Waters” Riddle was preparing to transition to Bellator later this month in a welterweight tournament quarterfinal against Luis Melo Jr. But thanks to another training injury, that fight’s not going to happen, and the TUF 7 vet says he’s stepping away from the sport altogether. As he wrote on Facebook last night:

I’m retiring from MMA today cracked my rib and can’t fight sept 20, Bellator said they can’t find me a fight till the next tournament and I can’t afford not fighting that long and need a job, sorry if I let anyone down but it isn’t paying the bills

Injuries have haunted Riddle’s professional career, which was spent entirely in the UFC. (Like his fellow TUF 7 castmate Amir Sadollah, Riddle only had amateur experience when he tried out for The Ultimate Fighter.) During his five years in the Octagon, Riddle had to withdraw from four scheduled fights due to injury and was pulled off of UFC 141 just hours before the event due to illness.

Making a living as a low-to-mid-level UFC fighter is hard enough when you’re fighting consistently. But if we’re going to talk about lost wages, we have to mention the fines and suspensions that Riddle received from his two separate positive marijuana tests, which he caught following his victories over Chris Clements (which originally earned him Submission of the Night honors at UFC 149) and Che Mills. Both of those wins were overturned to no-contests, leaving Riddle with a lifetime record of 7-3 with 2 no-contests, which would have been a more respectable 9-3 if he didn’t smoke so much damn weed.

Riddle’s latest setback was the last straw for him financially, and he’ll now try to enter general population and get a non-fighting job. (A “regular, you know, job, job-type job,” as Mr. Blonde would say.) But enough doom and gloom. Let’s look at Matt Riddle’s achievements…

– He was the original Uriah Hall. Riddle’s knockout of Dan Simmler during the elimination round of TUF 7 was at the time considered to be the nastiest KO in Ultimate Fighter history, mostly because of the sounds Simmler was making afterwards.

– His 1,350 strikes landed in the UFC puts him at #8 on the all-time list, between Chael Sonnen (1,452) and Nate Diaz (1,343). Seriously. Matt Riddle of all people. And in terms of strikes attempted, my God, it has to be in the trillions.

– He once took first-place in a wrestling tournament that also included Jon Jones.

– He helped popularize the phrase “butter-toothed Brit.”

Good luck out there, Matt.

By the Way, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Kicked Dave Herman’s Ass With a Broken Rib


(“You know what else doesn’t work on me? Left hooks to the fa-DAMN IT!” / Photo via Inovafoto)

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is the oldest 36-year-old in the history of humanity. And while he came into his UFC 153 fight against Dave Herman as a more-than 2-1 favorite, he didn’t inspire much confidence at the weigh-ins, where he dragged his way up to the stage, shook Arianny Celeste‘s hand (perhaps mistaking her for Burt Watson?), used his brother to brace himself while taking off his wind pants, removed his shirt to reveal a noticeably soft midsection, then limped his way to the staredown.

As it turns out, there’s a reason why Big Nog may have looked even more decrepit than usual that weekend (via MMAConvert):

Former interim UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira fought Dave Herman at UFC 153 with a fractured rib. Nogueira suffered the injury a week into training for the short notice bout with Herman in Brazil. “Fractured my rib three weeks ago on my right side,” said Nogueira, in an interview with SporTV. “I went to the doctor, took a local anesthetic to be able to train.”


(“You know what else doesn’t work on me? Left hooks to the fa-DAMN IT!” / Photo via Inovafoto)

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is the oldest 36-year-old in the history of humanity. And while he came into his UFC 153 fight against Dave Herman as a more-than 2-1 favorite, he didn’t inspire much confidence at the weigh-ins, where he dragged his way up to the stage, shook Arianny Celeste‘s hand (perhaps mistaking her for Burt Watson?), used his brother to brace himself while taking off his wind pants, removed his shirt to reveal a noticeably soft midsection, then limped his way to the staredown.

As it turns out, there’s a reason why Big Nog may have looked even more decrepit than usual that weekend (via MMAConvert):

Former interim UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira fought Dave Herman at UFC 153 with a fractured rib. Nogueira suffered the injury a week into training for the short notice bout with Herman in Brazil. “Fractured my rib three weeks ago on my right side,” said Nogueira, in an interview with SporTV. “I went to the doctor, took a local anesthetic to be able to train.”

With a redemptive armbar victory over a jackass in his home country — and after a two-year stretch that saw him undergo surgery on two knees, a hip, and an arm, not to mention countless smaller injuries including the aforementioned rib — you’d think this might be a good moment for Nogueira to step away from the sport like a hero, without risking any more long-lasting damage to his body. Obviously, that’s not happening, and Nogueira is asking for a top-ten opponent in his next appearance. Jesus, man, what’s it gonna take? Are you really going to keep fighting until your entire body looks like that hole in your back?

Our suggestion: Feed Nog #1 light-heavyweight contender Chael Sonnen, after Sonnen inevitably crashes and burns against Jon Jones. Unless Nogueira wants a top-ten heavyweight, in which case we got nothin’.

Brock Told JDS That the Power of Overeem’s Kicks and Knees Threw Him Off His Game


(“Oof…right in the diverticulitis!”)

Most fans and pundits who watched Friday night’s UFC 141 main event between former UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar and Octagon newcomer Alistair Overeem were amazed that Brock didn’t utilize his superior wrestling to stifle the offensive attack of “The Demolition Man.”

Junior dos Santos had a brief exchange in the cage with Lesnar following his crushing defeat at the hands (and legs) of Overeem, and according to the UFC heavyweight kingpin, his newly-retired peer was rattled by the sheer power of the former DREAM, K-1 and Strikeforce champion’s kicks and knees and couldn’t get back on track after absorbing such an immense amount of damage.


(“Oof…right in the diverticulitis!”)

Most fans and pundits who watched Friday night’s UFC 141 main event between former UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar and Octagon newcomer Alistair Overeem were amazed that Brock didn’t utilize his superior wrestling to stifle the offensive attack of “The Demolition Man.”

Junior dos Santos had a brief exchange in the cage with Lesnar following his crushing defeat at the hands (and legs) of Overeem, and according to the UFC heavyweight kingpin, his newly-retired peer was rattled by the sheer power of the former DREAM, K-1 and Strikeforce champion’s kicks and knees and simply couldn’t get back on track after absorbing such an immense amount damage.

“I thought Brock would move forwards. I hoped more of him. But he told me in the Octagon he felt the knees and kicks of Overeem and that he thought he broke his rib. I saw it and it was really red,” JDS told Tatame following the event. “He told me the last couple [kicks] destabilized him. And then he wished me good luck on this title defense and that was it.”

As for his eventual meeting with “The Reem,” dos Santos doesn’t see it going the same way as Overeem’s Octagon debut and says he isn’t afraid of Alistair’s K-1-level striking.

“Each fight is different and you gotta be prepared for your next opponent the best way you can. I got to the title with much effort and I’ll do my best to remain as the champion,” he says. “Overeem is a very strong fighter, but there’s no easy fight when you’re fighting a title fight. He’s big, but he ain’t two”, concluded.

CagePotato Ban: Blaming an Injury for a Lackluster Performance and Saying God Helped You Beat Someone in a Fight

(Talk of bruised ribs and doing god’s work in the cage don’t belong in a post-fight interview)
Watching Anderson Silva get dominated on the feet and the ground by Chael Sonnen for the better part of five rounds Saturday night at UFC 117, a large number…


(Talk of bruised ribs and doing god’s work in the cage don’t belong in a post-fight interview)

Watching Anderson Silva get dominated on the feet and the ground by Chael Sonnen for the better part of five rounds Saturday night at UFC 117, a large number of fans and pundits assumed out loud that the middleweight champion must be sick or injured. How else could he be outworked, outstruck and outgrappled by Sonnen for over 23 minutes of a championship bout?

It didn’t take long for Silva to nullify the praise Sonnen’s career defining performance was garnering him as he announced in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan that his own somewhat lethargic performance was a result of an injury, not Chael’s nearly perfectly executed game plan.

Besides the slick, yet last-ditch armbar-triangle combo he threw up and was able to catch Chael with in the dying seconds of the fifth round, Anderson really didn’t do a whole lot in the fight, but instead of praising Sonnen for contributing more than his half to their "Fight of the Night" awarded bout, he instead chalked it up to a rib injury he sustained in training more than a week prior to the fight.

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