Matt Riddle is looking to make a return to mixed martial arts nearly ten years after he left the sport for pro wrestling.
Riddle was a promising prospect coming out of The Ultimate Fighter 7, but his fight career was derailed by fight night drug failures for marijuana that saw two of his wins overturned to No Contests. He then got into a spat with UFC president Dana White resulting in his release from the promotion.
After one more win outside the UFC, Riddle would pivot to pro wrestling and claw his way up from the indies all the way to the WWE. But controversy continues to dog him, and he parted ways with WWE in September. Now he’s in talks with several MMA promotions about booking a real fight.
“There’s been a lot of talk. I’ve been talking to a couple of promotions,” Riddle said at the World MMA Awards (via Fansided). “I don’t want to get into it until it’s official, but I think in 2024 there’s a very big possibility that I get back in the ring or cage pretty soon.”
“Maybe this is a bad theory or bad idea, but I feel like you’ve got to get beat up to leave, you know?” Riddle explained. “I feel like I left the UFC on a four-fight win streak, then won another fight in Titan FC. I just kind of left and went to pro wrestling. I did good, and am still doing it. Pro wrestling is awesome, but I still want to get beat up. I want to have my exit.”
“We’ll see. Maybe somebody beats me up. Maybe I keep winning. Who knows?”
Rumor has it that Riddle was put forward as a potential first MMA fight for Jake Paul in the PFL. The risk to reward ratio wasn’t quite right for “The Problem Child,” and now Matt is entertaining all possible options … including a return to the UFC.
“I never say never,” Riddle said. “If the opportunity is right. I don’t really hold a grudge. I mean, I talk a lot of s—. Sorry, I talk a lot of trash. That’s about it. If there’s business to be had, I’ll get business done.”
Things went pretty nuclear between White and Riddle back in 2013 when Riddle was ousted from the UFC. It went beyond just some back-and-forth verbal sparring in the press after Matt dared to criticize UFC pay. In 2019 Riddle would accuse White of trying to ruin his life and career. All water under the bridge now, though.
“For me, there’s no fence that really needs mending,” he said. “He had his decision. I had mine. He went his way. I went my way. I had great success and so has he. For me, there’s no problem. It’s just a matter of if he’d want me to work for him and pay me again. He doesn’t have to.”
With the benefit of hindsight (and the need for a job in a monopsony environment), Riddle now sees positives in how his feud with White played out.
“I have to thank Dana, because if he were to just fire me and not say anything, nobody probably would’ve known about me,” Riddle said. “Putting me on blast and doing that, I think a lot of people could relate with me. They probably had their parents or their boss talk to them like that. I think that’s kind of where that ‘bro’ character kind of started.”
“I think every good journey needs a good story of ups and downs, just like a good pro wrestling match.”
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
