True Confessions: I Gave Matt Riddle Weed Before He Got Fired From the UFC, And I Also Stole His Gloves


(Photo courtesy of the author.)

By George Tibbles

CagePotato has allowed me to write an article for its legion of reprobates and cretins — well, in the eyes of some leading industry figures anyway — and I’d like to use this opportunity to issue an open letter to our second-favourite, no wait third-favourite, ahh fuck it, one of the many stoners in MMA, Matt “Deep Waters” Riddle. Matt and I shared a brief moment in time last year, and I want to publicly apologise to him for my actions that night. Hopefully, I didn’t wreck his career.

Allow me to introduce myself and set the scene a little. Initially you may notice my vocabulary may be a bit different. This is due to myself being a typical Limey wanker. So I’ll clear a few things up though before I proceed: I can’t stand tea in any form, in no way are my teeth perfect but they’re not bad either, I think Bisping is awesome, I’m fully aware I may be writing this in German were it not for The US of A’s (late) involvement in WW2, I also whole-heartedly apologise on behalf of my country for this this twat and I am quite susceptible to the lay ‘N’ pray strategy. But I digress.

So let’s rewind back to February 16th, 2013, to the Barao vs McDonald card at the Wembley Arena in London. Now the UFC only comes to my little island once or twice a year and normally brings with it a pretty sub-standard card in terms of name recognition. So, me and my band of merry men turn it into a bit of a “boys” weekend and end up in all types of debauchery, eventually returning home with our tails between our legs and feeling rougher than a badger’s arsehole.

This particular card is pretty much a drunken haze, and I can only remember pieces of it. The Snake’s leg internally combusting. Watson repeatedly kneeing Nedkov. During the Poirier/Swanson fight, there was an equally good fight going on in the stands. (In the third round, Swanson put his hand to his ear thinking the crowd was cheering him, but in actual fact the crowd was cheering the huge fella raining down bombs on some poor twat.) And a delightful member of bar staff named Shaniqua who had tickled my fancy and was evidently turned off by how unbelievably twatted I was.

It was at UFC 138 where we discovered that, at UK events at least, the UFC puts the fighters in the closest Hilton Hotel to the event stadium. So for each event we go to, we always head to the nearest Hilton and have our post-fight/pre-club drinks there. After this particular card, the strategy paid off in droves.


(Photo courtesy of the author.)

By George Tibbles

CagePotato has allowed me to write an article for its legion of reprobates and cretins — well, in the eyes of some leading industry figures anyway — and I’d like to use this opportunity to issue an open letter to our second-favourite, no wait third-favourite, ahh fuck it, one of the many stoners in MMA, Matt “Deep Waters” Riddle. Matt and I shared a brief moment in time last year, and I want to publicly apologise to him for my actions that night. Hopefully, I didn’t wreck his career.

Allow me to introduce myself and set the scene a little. Initially you may notice my vocabulary may be a bit different. This is due to myself being a typical Limey wanker. So I’ll clear a few things up though before I proceed: I can’t stand tea in any form, in no way are my teeth perfect but they’re not bad either, I think Bisping is awesome, I’m fully aware I may be writing this in German were it not for The US of A’s (late) involvement in WW2, I also whole-heartedly apologise on behalf of my country for this this twat and I am quite susceptible to the lay ‘N’ pray strategy. But I digress.

So let’s rewind back to February 16th, 2013, to the Barao vs McDonald card at the Wembley Arena in London. Now the UFC only comes to my little island once or twice a year and normally brings with it a pretty sub-standard card in terms of name recognition. So, me and my band of merry men turn it into a bit of a “boys” weekend and end up in all types of debauchery, eventually returning home with our tails between our legs and feeling rougher than a badger’s arsehole.

This particular card is pretty much a drunken haze, and I can only remember pieces of it. The Snake’s leg internally combusting. Watson repeatedly kneeing Nedkov. During the Poirier/Swanson fight, there was an equally good fight going on in the stands. (In the third round, Swanson put his hand to his ear thinking the crowd was cheering him, but in actual fact the crowd was cheering the huge fella raining down bombs on some poor twat.) And a delightful member of bar staff named Shaniqua who had tickled my fancy and was evidently turned off by how unbelievably twatted I was.

It was at UFC 138 where we discovered that, at UK events at least, the UFC puts the fighters in the closest Hilton Hotel to the event stadium. So for each event we go to, we always head to the nearest Hilton and have our post-fight/pre-club drinks there. After this particular card, the strategy paid off in droves.

As we went to enter the Wembley Hilton, the concierge arrogantly refused to let us in, as we were showing obvious signs of prior P.E.D. abuse and smelt like the inside of Susan Boyle’s thigh after a particularly intense Zumba class. So we decided to set up camp just outside the entrance and meet as many people as we could before our lift back home arrived.

We were chatting with “One Punch” Pickett when another fighter showed up, and I saw my chance to get past the toffee-nosed prick of a concierge. The fighter in question was Matt Riddle — someone who I know is close friends with Mary, Jane and Doctor Greenthumb. Already feeling fearless due to consuming a violent cocktail of Cuban Rum, Guinness, red wine and combination E numbers even the current British government wouldn’t allow in our now famous Horse Lasagne, I decided to make a daring move.

I casually sauntered over to Matt, reached into my Guinness sodden Levi’s and then pulled out a bag of bud so appetising no self-respecting Ent could refuse it. Particularly an Ent who has just gone fifteen minutes with the “Beautiful One”. So I got the bud and gently cupped it in my hand, proceeded to walk over to Deep Waters, and shouted “Hey Matt can you sign my hand?”. Initially he looked at me all weird, as anyone would do to a fully grown man with pupils the size of dinner plates asking for you to sign his hand. I thought “Oh Shit”; my intoxicated brain had not considered this scenario. I suavely locked eyes with Matt and said assertively, “Just look in my hand Matt.”

As Matt’s eyes slowly started to draw down to my hand I could tell he was expecting there to be a Polaroid of me in ladies underwear, a knife, or just something generally unpleasant. Then it happened, he locked eyes with my green nugget of hunger inducing goodness and gave me a wry smirk (phew!). He then told me to follow him up to his room and told the concierge we were his brothers. As I walked past the concierge I flipped him the Stockton Heybuddy and we were in. Jurassic park!

Once in Matt’s room I started to roll up. Just as I was finishing rolling I asked Matt if he was coming out for a smoke. Matt told me he couldn’t smoke as he hadn’t spoken to Dana yet, who normally comes to congratulate him after his wins, and he definitely didn’t want to be having that conversation while high as a kite. We sat down, talked and drank a nice quantity of liquor, and spoke for a while about his previous marijuana suspension. Matt proudly proclaimed he hadn’t smoked anything for over a full month before his fight with Che Mills, talked about when he won a wrestling competition that Jon Jones was in, about how he learned most of his technique in the early days from BJ Penn’s books, and generally was a down to earth guy who seemed sincerely grateful and surprised he still had fans in the UK after the “butter toothed Brits” comment. What you see is what you get with Matt; he really was exactly as he comes across in press conferences and on TUF.


(A short video from the night in question, courtesy of the author.)

Now this is where my apology comes into play. I have a problem when I’m drunk and that problem is irrational Kleptomania. Basically, I steal random shit when I’m drunk. My house is full of used fire extinguishers, road signs, and even the queue separators from KFC (don’t ask). Anyway, Matt’s suitcase was casually laid open in the middle of the room and on top was a pair of beat up camouflage 6oz MMA sparring gloves. Suddenly my Kleptomania reaches fever point.

So I fake a phone call, quietly pick the gloves up, and tell everybody I’m going to the corridor to finish my conversation and for them to let me back in shortly. Once in the hotel corridor I run about fifteen rooms down and stash the gloves. I then walk back into the room feeling like a boss only to have a sudden realisation…our lift back home isn’t due for another 45 minutes and my friends won’t want to leave until then without good reason. However in the middle of this god damn room (no bigger than 5×5 meters), is Matt’s suitcase splayed open like a cheap Thai whore, with his gloves missing. For 45 bastard minutes my arsehole was like a yawning hippo and I was constantly trying to divert his attention away from the suitcase like a scene in a bad 80’s sitcom.

An hour or so later my friend called to say he was outside, so we said our goodbyes to Matt and thanked him for a great night. As we were leaving I started to feel guilty about the gloves but it was too late to give them back. I decided I would give Matt something he truly desired, a nice big bud of Amsterdam’s finest.

Theoretically, that would have been the first bit of weed that Matt smoked for over a month (if he was being honest, which he seemed to be). Since reading about the events that transpired shortly after — Matt’s second positive test for marijuana and his immediate release from the UFC — and not knowing when the positive sample was taken, I’ve had a bit of a moral dilemma. Potentially the good deed green I gave him triggered a Butterfly Effect chain of events that led to Matt being cut. I lost a few nights sleep over this (metaphorically speaking, that is, since I sleep harder than a narcoleptic watching baseball) but I came to the realisation that despite his well-documented love of marijuana, Matt was his own man and in control of his own destiny.

So Matt, if you’re reading this, I just want to say sorry about the gloves, man. Get in contact with me and I will get them back out to you. They’ve been at a good home and have been the centrepiece of one of my BEST drunken stories since. Thanks for getting us past that snotty concierge and being the innocent, likeable, and almost juvenile Matt Riddle that I and the MMA community have come to know and appreciate you for.

I hope to see you back in the UFC soon on your one-man mission to out-wrestle us Brits.

UFC on Fox 7 Results: Breaking Down Event’s Biggest Takeaways

Benson Henderson defeated Gilbert Melendez in the headline fight of UFC on Fox 7 in controversial circumstances, with a close and hard-fought match finishing in a split points-decision victory.However, there were several other thrilling fights fro…

Benson Henderson defeated Gilbert Melendez in the headline fight of UFC on Fox 7 in controversial circumstances, with a close and hard-fought match finishing in a split points-decision victory.

However, there were several other thrilling fights from San Jose this weekend, with plenty of big talking points and takeaways to emerge from the action on Saturday—many of which will have profound impacts on the UFC as a whole.

Read on to see some of the biggest takeaways from UFC on Fox 7.

 

Big Victory for Josh Thomson and Strikeforce

Thomson walked away from San Jose with a huge victory to his name, after becoming the first-ever man to finish Nate Diaz by strikes. He executed his game plan perfectly and wasn’t drawn in to playing Diaz’s style—emerging victorious from the fight as a result.

The fact that this was Thomson’s first fight in the UFC in over eight years is simply phenomenal, and he has shown himself to be a genuine top-10 contender.

The win showed that Strikeforce’s best are capable of mixing it with their UFC counterparts and are more than capable of chalking up wins in the process.

It’s a big win for Thomson and Strikeforce on the night.

 

Jordan Mein Not as Dominant as Expected 

Mein was a fighter on the way up, heading into his fight against Matt Brown this weekend, but he quickly saw that rise come to an end with a thrilling defeat this weekend.

The Canadian will head back to the undercard after an avalanche of elbows from Brown saw him finish off his highly favored opponent—giving Brown a huge victory, but perhaps more importantly, showing that Mein still has some serious work to do to be considered an elite fighter.

Mein was second-best to Brown for the majority of the fight and wasn’t able to break down his opponent on the night. He’ll likely spend plenty of time reliving what went wrong and trying to correct that for his next undercard opponent, whilst Brown could well try his hand against the top 10—something he’s shown he’s more than capable of competing with.

Mein has a promising future ahead, but he definitely took several steps backward this weekend. 

 

Benson Henderson: Double-Winner, But Bad Timing

Benson Henderson emerged from UFC on Fox 7 with a close, difficult victory to his name—and he also emerged with a fiancee, making him somewhat of a double-winner on the night.

Benson won a split decision against Gilbert Melendez which saw key moments for both fighters, and he could well have walked away with defeat in this one—such was the close nature of the fight that many had falling the other way on the night.

A big win for Henderson to erase some of those doubters, though it’s hard to say he did himself any favors with his post-fight actions.

Well, other than becoming engaged, that is.

There just seemed to be a serious lack of judgment from Henderson and a very bad case of bad timing. Despite the fact, he was on Melendez’s home turf and the recipient of a questionable split decision, he proposed, and the crowd quickly let him know what they thought about the actions, with 15,000 boos reigning down on the “winner.”

At least she said yes, I guess. It could have been worse.

 

Hit me up on Twitter for more sports goodness:   Follow @dantalintyre


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Despite Fireable Performances at UFC on FUEL 7, Matt Riddle and Che Mills Sign Multi-Fight Deals With Legacy FC, Cage Warriors


(When Keepin’ it Real Goes Wrong: Breakdance Edition. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.) 

Like the mighty osprey as it descends from the sky to feast on a trout, the fallout from Matt Riddle’s UFC on FUEL 7 bout with Che Mills was swift and fierce. Not only was Mills lambasted/fired for putting on a piss-poor performance, but Riddle was similarly bashed by Dana White for his efforts in victory and released from the promotion shortly thereafter (following his second failed post-fight drug test). Despite the setback, Riddle stated that he was happy to finally be freed from the hypocritical bonds of Zuffa to crush some cans, so much so that he would probably never come back to the UFC if they asked him to.

In either case, it looks like Riddle will be given plenty of opportunities to do just that in the Texas-based organization Legalize It Legacy Fighting Championships, which Riddle announced he had signed a multi-fight deal with over the weekend via Twitter:

You have to appreciate how Riddle, being the witty bastard that he is, managed to reference both his recent quotes about beating his kids and the State of Texas’ history with blood baths in one masterfully written tweet. That’s what he was doing, right?

And in other news, Riddle’s opponent at UFC on FUEL 7, Che Mills, has successfully landed on his feet as well…


(When Keepin’ it Real Goes Wrong: Breakdance Edition. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.) 

Like the mighty osprey as it descends from the sky to feast on a trout, the fallout from Matt Riddle’s UFC on FUEL 7 bout with Che Mills was swift and fierce. Not only was Mills lambasted/fired for putting on a piss-poor performance, but Riddle was similarly bashed by Dana White for his efforts in victory and released from the promotion shortly thereafter (following his second failed post-fight drug test). Despite the setback, Riddle stated that he was happy to finally be freed from the hypocritical bonds of Zuffa to crush some cans, so much so that he would probably never come back to the UFC if they asked him to.

In either case, it looks like Riddle will be given plenty of opportunities to do just that in the Texas-based organization Legalize It Legacy Fighting Championships, which Riddle announced he had signed a multi-fight deal with over the weekend via Twitter:

You have to appreciate how Riddle, being the witty bastard that he is, managed to reference both his recent quotes about beating his kids and the State of Texas’ history with blood baths in one masterfully written tweet. That’s what he was doing, right?

And in other news, Riddle’s opponent at UFC on FUEL 7, Che Mills, has successfully landed on his feet as well.

Despite “giving up” in the third round of his fight with Riddle (White’s words, not ours), Mills has already signed a five-fight deal with UK-based promotion Cage Warriors, a promotion that has seen such names as Irish phenom Conor McGregor, Paul Daley, and TUF 6 runner-up Tommy Speer fight under its banner.

None of the details regarding Mills’ signing figures or debut opponent/date have been made available, but Cage Warriors CEO Graham Boylan had the following to say upon breaking the news (via MMAJunkie):

Che Mills is the best U.K. welterweight outside of the UFC at the moment, so I’m extremely happy that he has decided to come on board. A fighter of his caliber wouldn’t have been short of offers, but the fact that Che has opted to sign for Cage Warriors is proof that the guy is determined to return to the top. I have no doubt that he’ll get there too.

I’m a big fan of Che Mills. When the UFC recently released a bunch of guys, Che was the one I really wanted to bring in. He comes from a great camp and is always exciting to watch. 

We will update you on the details of these two signings as soon as we are made aware.

J. Jones

UFC Confirms Matt Riddle’s Release, Win Overturned to No-Contest

Prior to UFC on Fox 6 happening last December, the UFC announced that they would be instituting a new fighter conduct policy to oversee the more than 400 fighters on the promotional roster. At the time as it was explained by UFC counsel Lawrence Epstei…

Prior to UFC on Fox 6 happening last December, the UFC announced that they would be instituting a new fighter conduct policy to oversee the more than 400 fighters on the promotional roster.

At the time as it was explained by UFC counsel Lawrence Epstein, many of the rules that were being instituted had already been in place, but now they were in writing and would be upheld for the fighters under contract.

It appears UFC on Fuel 7 fighter Matt Riddle felt the sting of those newly implemented rules after he failed his second test for marijuana in the span of seven months, and as a result he was released from the promotion on Tuesday.

Riddle initially announced the release himself, but on Wednesday the UFC followed up with their own statement regarding his dismissal from the company following the positive drug test.

Matthew Riddle tested positive for marijuana metabolites following his bout at UFC on FUEL TV 7 in London, England on February 16, 2013. This is Riddle’s second failed drug test for marijuana within the past seven months. Riddle previously failed a post-fight drug test due to marijuana following his UFC 149 victory over Chris Clements.

Because of the second infraction in such a short period of time, Riddle was ultimately released from the UFC and his win against Che Mills was overturned to a no-contest. The UFC acts as the governing body when they travel to areas with no recognized athletic commission, as was the case when they traveled to England for UFC on Fuel 7.

The UFC statement about their decision on Riddle confirms that his release is a direct result of the violation of the new fighter conduct policy, and thus his contract was terminated.

The UFC organization is exercising its right to terminate Riddle for breach of his obligations under his Promotional Agreement as well as the UFC Fighter Conduct Policy. The UFC organization has a strict, consistent policy against the use of any illegal and/or performance-enhancing drugs, stimulants or masking agents. The outcome of the bout against Che Mills was changed to a no contest and the results of the positive test will be reported to the official Association of Boxing Commissions MMA record-keeper.

Riddle’s release is one of the first times the UFC has ever dropped a fighter following a positive drug test. In the past some other fighters such as Dave Herman have been offered rehabilitation as part of their agreement with the UFC after a positive drug test result.

In Riddle’s case, however, it appears the second positive test in such a short span of time ultimately led to his undoing.

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC Releases Matt Riddle After 2nd Positive Test for Marijuana

UFC welterweight Matt Riddle has run afoul of the promotion’s drug testing for a second time after his most recent fight in England at UFC on Fuel TV 7. According to Riddle in a statement released to MMAJunkie.com, the former Ultimate Fighter competito…

UFC welterweight Matt Riddle has run afoul of the promotion’s drug testing for a second time after his most recent fight in England at UFC on Fuel TV 7.

According to Riddle in a statement released to MMAJunkie.com, the former Ultimate Fighter competitor tested positive for marijuana following his fight with Che Mills just weeks ago in the U.K.

The UFC opted to release Riddle following his second infraction with the drug testing protocols.

Because England has no athletic commission to oversee mixed martial arts in the country, the UFC heads up their own drug testing program led by Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner.

The first time Riddle tested positive was following his UFC 149 fight against Chris Clements, which he won at the time, but due to the drug test result the victory was changed to a no-contest by the Calgary Combative Sports Commission.

Riddle is a legal user of medical marijuana in the state of Nevada where he resides, but unfortunately the drug remains on the banned substances list for athletes.

In past interviews, Riddle has argued for the legalization for his of medical marijuana, but as long as the drug remains a banned substance, he cannot test positive for it.

“I deal with it, and honestly I’m an advocate for it. I think it should be legal,” said Riddle just after his fight with Mills in England.

Unfortunately, Riddle’s commitment to stop using marijuana for three weeks prior to his fight to guarantee the drug no longer stays in his system didn’t work this time around either and he’s now tested positive for marijuana a second time.

Riddle joins fellow medical marijuana user and welterweight Nick Diaz as UFC athletes that have tested positive for the drug on multiple occasions now.  Diaz was actually suspended for one year following his second infraction last year when failing the test under the jurisdiction of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Now Riddle finds himself on the outside looking in after a second failed drug test.  Following his stint on the seventh season of the Ultimate Fighter, Riddle actually made his professional debut in the UFC and has spent his entire career with the promotion.

 

Damon Martin is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC Rankings for Each Weight Division Following UFC on Fuel TV 7

Michael McDonald had a chance to shake up the UFC bantamweight rankings in the UFC on Fuel TV 7 main event, but he wasn’t quite ready for an opponent like Renan Barao, who successfully defended his interim title with a fourth-round submission finish.On…

Michael McDonald had a chance to shake up the UFC bantamweight rankings in the UFC on Fuel TV 7 main event, but he wasn’t quite ready for an opponent like Renan Barao, who successfully defended his interim title with a fourth-round submission finish.

One fighter who did improve his standing with a strong performance on Saturday was Cub Swanson. The Greg Jackson-trained featherweight defeated Dustin Poirier in an entertaining fight to move one step closer to his first shot at the UFC’s 145-pound championship.

With another UFC event in the books, official rankings have been released for each of the organization’s weight divisions. Here are those divisional rankings as published through UFC.com on Feb. 18. 

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