Tag: WWE

Recent WWE Signee Matt Riddle Admits He Misses MMA

The newly signed WWE star Matt Riddle admits he misses fighting in MMA, where he once competed under the UFC banner.

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Former mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Matt Riddle has signed with WWE.

Riddle, a former competitor on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), fought all but one of his professional MMA fights in the UFC’s Octagon. Riddle would’ve had a four-fight win streak with the UFC at one point. Unfortunately, two of his victories were reversed to No Contests due to a pair of failed tests for *********.

Following his second failed test for *********, Riddle was released from the promotion. He fought once more in Titan FC, winning via second-round submission, before making the transition into professional wrestling.

Riddle had a tremendous amount of success on the independent scene before catching the attention of WWE. The professional wrestling juggernaut scooped Riddle up and inked him to a developmental contract. Riddle tells MMA Junkie that, despite his success in professional wrestling, he does miss fighting in MMA:

“I do miss it,” Riddle said. “I watch the fights. I watched Tyron Woodley dominate this week. I feel bad for the fighters and I know exactly – things are a little different now – but I know my world when I was in MMA, everything was tough.

“Life was just so tough. Everything was a struggle. Bills were a struggle. Even when you’re on top in the UFC, you only get paid a couple times a year. I’m just really glad to have that all behind me and focus on my craft.”

Riddle is one of several mixed martial artists who have made the switch over to professional wrestling. Most recently; Ronda Rousey, Jessamyn Duke, Tom Lawlor, Shayna Baszler, and many more have moved over. Riddle said that it takes more than just the ability to do moves and be athletic to be a wrestler – you need charisma:

“There’s a lot of people making the transition and doing it well,” Riddle said. “There are other guys that are doing great – and women – you’ve got Ronda and Shayna (Baszler), Jessamyn Duke. You’ve got Tom Lawlor, you’ve got me.

“There’s a lot of guys like ‘King Mo,’ for example, who is a big fan of professional wrestling, world-class fighter, world-class athlete, but I don’t think he’s the greatest pro wrestler. It’s more than moves and athleticism. It’s that charisma.”

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Cris Cyborg Reacts To Ronda Rousey’s WWE Title Victory

Ronda Rousey is now a WWE Champion.

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Last night (Sun. August 19, 2018) the WWE held its annual SummerSlam pay-per-view (PPV). Due to what transpired, it’s no surprise that Cris Cyborg reacts to the event.

On the card was former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Rousey challenged Alexa Bliss for the RAW Women’s Championship. “The Rowdy One” defeated Bliss with her armbar for the submission victory.

As a result, Rousey is now the WWE RAW Women’s Champion. It is her first title of her professional wrestling career. Rousey’s longtime rival in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA), Cris Cyborg, offered her thoughts on the occasion.

Cyborg congratulated Rousey, who she called “the baddest woman on the planet.” She signed the congratulatory message as “the most feared woman on the planet”:

“Congrats to the baddest woman on the planet on the first of many belts. Sincerely, The most feared woman on the planet.”

Rousey has really taken to the world of professional wrestling nicely since debuting back in April. She picked up her first win inside the squared circle at WrestleMania 34. Rousey teamed up with her fellow Olympian Kurt Angle and defeated Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.

She previously had a RAW Women’s Title match with Nia Jax but had that opportunity thwarted due to interference from Bliss. However, Rousey got sweet revenge last night when she took the title off Bliss at SummerSlam last night.

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Former UFC Fighter Matt Riddle Signs with WWE

Former UFC fighter Matt Riddle has signed with World Wrestling Entertainment where he will begin working under the NXT brand in the near future. Are you as excited to see #MattRiddle in Brooklyn as HE is to BE in Brooklyn?!@SuperKingofBros #NXTTakeOver…

Former UFC fighter Matt Riddle has signed with World Wrestling Entertainment where he will begin working under the NXT brand in the near future. Are you as excited to see #MattRiddle in Brooklyn as HE is to BE in Brooklyn?!@SuperKingofBros #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/wOP2y9yRhY — WWE NXT (@WWENXT) August 18, 2018 Riddle spent 12 of his 13 professional […]

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USADA Pays Brock Lesnar First Visit Of 2018

Brock Lesnar has submitted his first anti-doping sample of the year according to USADA database.

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The “Beast” is back…in the USADA testing pool, that is.

According to USADA’s database of tested athletes for 2018, Brock Lesnar has successfully submitted his first anti-doping test of the year. The database was most recently updated on Friday, July 20, 2018.

Lesnar re-entered the USADA testing pool just two short weeks ago when “The Beast” stormed the center of the octagon at UFC 226 to have a WWE-inspired face off with the newly crowned heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier.

Though the UFC is yet to confirm the Lesnar Cormier megafight, the fight is expected to happen at the beginning of the new year. Permitting Lesnar passed his subsequent USADA tests, January of 2019 will be the earliest “The Beast” can return to competition inside the octagon.

Lesnar drew collective criticism from a majority of the MMA world when he was granted a conditional waiver for the traditional four-month testing period required for un-retiring UFC fighters, a decision that left the promotion with egg on their proverbial faces when the hulking former heavyweight champion failed multiple drug tests for banned estrogen blockers, a suspension he still has to serve the remainder of before fighting Cormier.

Now, he’ll have to pass another stringent battery of tests in order to actually return to the UFC, and USADA has already paid him their first visit. Will he be able to make it to his heavyweight title bout against Cormier?

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Cain Velasquez Weighing Next Move After WWE Training Session

This is wild.

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Could Cain Velasquez legitimately be considering a career switch over to professional wrestling? It’s looking more and more like that’s becoming a possibility.

The former UFC heavyweight champion visited the WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando, Florida earlier this week. Velasquez participated in some in-ring drills with Performance Center coach Norman Smiley, had a DDP Yoga session with WWE Hall Of Famer Diamond Dallas Page and worked out in the Performance Center’s weight room.

Later on he attended a taping of the WWE’s developmental program, NXT, from Full Sail Live. Velasquez spoke about his experience with the professional wrestling juggernaut, and admitted he has been a fan of the industry since he was a child and deemed the entire ordeal as “amazing”:

“My experience here has been amazing. I’m just looking forward to being here and learning as much as I can. I’ve been a fan of the sport since I was a little kid, and now I get to participate in it.”

ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reports that after Velasquez’s visit, which he is said to have enjoyed, the Mexican star is open to “options.” His team also did not provide an update on his current contract status:

It should be interesting to see if Velasquez makes the move to the professional wrestling world. We’ve already seen former champions such as Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar make the move, albeit Lesnar originated in WWE before making his mixed martial arts (MMA) debut. Velasquez could be the next big name in MMA to journey over to Vince McMahon and company.

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Daniel Cormier Fires Back At Brock Lesnar Fight Haters

Daniel Cormier fired back at the haters of his “fake” Brock Lesnar altercation at UFC 226:

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Last night (Sat., July 7, 2018), Daniel Cormier became only the second fighter to simultaneously hold two UFC titles by knocking out Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 226 in Las Vegas.

Cormier, 39, improved to 16-0 as a heavyweight fighter and boasts a 21-1 overall record. The only blemish being to Jon Jones; I will let you draw your own conclusions.

“DC” has openly stated he only has two fights left in his storied career after his vicious knockout of Miocic at UFC 226 to capture the heavyweight strap. But who will those two high-profile fights be against?

Well, Dana White confirmed it one of them would be against former UFC champ Brock Lesnar. The WWE Universal Champion is going to be Cormier’s first heavyweight title defense. You just knew something was up when you saw the mountain of a man that is Lesnar awkwardly making his way cageside. Suspicions would be confirmed when Cormier took to the mic in his post-fight speech.

The newly crowned “baddest man on the planet” wasted no time calling out the professional wrestler turned fighter.

“I guess Brock Lesnar is here to pick a fight.”

Cormier would call Lesnar to the Octagon, The “Beast” would rush the center of the cage and shove the new champ. The entire scene was reminiscent of the “Attitude Era”, or the glory days of professional wrestling. Be that as it may, it looks like “DC” has his first title challenger in Lesnar. That is if the WWE Universal Champ can comply with USADA and successfully complete his suspension.

Social media exploded with accusations following the post-fight melee, with most fighters believing the fix was in. Here are a few fighter reactions:

Cormier is open about his love of sports entertainment, however, the champ-champ didn’t take kindly to the claim that he and Lesnar had planned the whole incident when reacting to the scene at the post-fight press conference (via MMA Fighting).

“Staged, they’re idiots’ — fine,” said Cormier. “Stay broke. You’ve got a guy like Brock Lesnar in front of you and you don’t go crazy on him? Are you crazy? Brock is a pro wrestler, he does fake fighting. So I will do fake fighting with you until I put my fist upside your face. I’ll do fake fighting with you, Brock. And then I’ll punch you upside your head.”

“So yeah, yeah. You guys call it fake online. I see a bunch of fighters. ‘Oh, it’s so fake, I don’t want to watch this.’ Tune in and keep lacing my pockets. You’ve guys gotta get on board. These guys get on the microphone after their fights and say, ‘Yeah, it’s whatever the UFC decides.’ OK.”

Although Cormier took offense to the “fake” allegation, he did, in fact, admit he lives for this kind of scene.

“You know me, I love wrestling! I watched some WWE stuff this weekend. I watched WrestleMania back in the day. I love it. I think it’s great. But look, Brock Lesnar is the champion of the WWE. So, when he comes over here, there’s no script. There’s no Vince McMahon saying, ‘Hey DC, easy on the punches.’ There’s no [WWE star] Braun Strowman where if Brock punches him hard on purpose he isn’t gonna respond. The moment Brock Lesnar punches me, I’m gonna get in his ***.

“And we’re gonna have him running across that Octagon like a lot of other dudes did. So he can be big and bad and tough right now. But once that cage door closes, he’s gonna have to answer for his words. And he’s definitely gonna have to answer for that shove.”

Time will tell if Lesnar will indeed pay for that shove. With little love lost between these two heavyweights and Cormier’s incredible gift of gab, the build-up for this superfight may be better than the entrée.

Always the pragmatist, “DC” would suggest a silver lining so to speak from post fight fall out, a thank you to the “Beast”.

“Brock Lesnar stopped me from crying in the Octagon again, he kind of distracted me from saying all that stuff and that would have made me cry again. I don’t need to be another meme.”

All sources indicate the superfight between Cormier and Lesnar is targeted for the massive end of the year card staged in Las Vegas, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.

Are you looking forward to Cormier defending his heavyweight title against the part-time WWE champ?

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