mmaniac

News came in earlier today that Joe Riggs was pulled from Friday’s Strikeforce card in which he was slated to face Luke Stewart. Scheduled to air on HDNet, the event will be held at San Jose’s HP Pavilion and is headlined by the exciting lightweight title fight between Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thompson.
Apparently there was something that Riggs had taken that caused the CSAC to pull him, similar to what happened to TUF 7 alum Tim Credeur at the UFC’s most recent Ultimate Finale show. Honestly, I can’t help but feel bad for the guy. It seems like he’s run into hard luck throughout his career and unfortunately is known as one of the most underachieving fighters. “Diesel,” as he’s known, began his career as a heavyweight, but has slimmed down and fought at 185 pounds when he entered the UFC before dropping to 170 (his fight with Stewart was set to take place at a catchweight of 178 pounds). He looked like a hot prospect, with wins over guys like Herb Dean and eventual TUF 3 champion Kendall Grove before coming to the UFC where he debuted by finishing tough veteran Joe Doerkson.
A submission loss to Ivan Salaverry in his next UFC bout led to a drop to 170, where he defeated Chris Lytle, opening up a fight ending cut with an elbow from bottom position, which earned him a title shot at kingpin Matt Hughes. However, he failed to make weight and looked lackluster in that fight where Hughes needed less than 4 minutes to lock up a kimura.
Riggs has displayed great skill at times and is dangerous with his solid punching power. However, a return to 185 resulted in a loss to TUF prospect Mike Swick (who has since dropped to 170 himself) as well as a brutal KO loss against TUF 1 champion Diego Sanchez.
Riggs has never been able to capitalize on his tremendous talent, and with a loss in his last outing and now this unfortunate event, it’s anyone’s guess if he’ll be able to return to the form that had people labeling him as the next big thing. He seems like a good guy and is a legitimate fighter who would be a good test for any young fighter. Hopefully he’ll be able to come back strong and put together consistent performances. Best of luck to Joe Riggs.

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