1. Joseph Jonathan Riggs was born on September 23,1982 and is an American professional bare-knuckle boxer and former mixed martial artist who was most recently signed to Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.
49 Facts About Joe Riggs
1. 2.
Joe Riggs formerly competed for the UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, Bellator, ProElite, M-1 Global, and King of the Cage.
3.
Joe Riggs began wrestling at Cactus High School in Glendale, Arizona.
4.
Joe Riggs followed in the footsteps of his hero, Randy Couture, and became an All-American twice, at Glendale Community College, where he studied to get a Criminal Justice degree.
5.
Joe Riggs has trained at Arizona Combat Sports under the Lally brothers, MMA Lab under John Crouch and TNT Training Center under Scott Tannenbaum.
6.
Joe Riggs made his WEC debut at WEC 9 against Alex Stiebling, in what was his debut at Light Heavyweight.
7.
Joe Riggs lost via triangle choke submission in the second round.
8.
Where Joe Riggs finished the fight early in the 1st Round by TKO.
9.
Joe Riggs put on a very impressive performance by stopping Kimmons early in the 1st round, earning him the WEC world title, which he held for the next 2 years.
10.
Joe Riggs received his shot at the UFC Welterweight Championship at UFC 56 in November 2005 against Matt Hughes.
11.
Joe Riggs was originally supposed to face the winner of the upcoming title fight.
12.
When Joe Riggs was contacted to take Parisyan's place he jumped at the chance, despite having fought at UFC 55 just a month earlier.
13.
However, Joe Riggs did not make the required weight and the fight was declared a non-title event, due to Hughes allowing Joe Riggs to fight him.
14.
Joe Riggs then moved up to Middleweight to face The Ultimate Fighter alumnus Mike Swick.
15.
Early in the fight Joe Riggs was caught in a guillotine choke and tapped out.
16.
Joe Riggs then fought The Ultimate Fighter 2's Jason Von Flue, submitting him with a triangle choke.
17.
Joe Riggs lost the fight due to knockout from a hook followed by a knee in 1:45 of the first round.
18.
Joe Riggs lost to Cory Devela via submission in his Strikeforce debut at Strikeforce: At The Dome.
19.
Joe Riggs was to return to action on Strikeforce: Melendez vs Thomson, facing Jiujitsu specialist Luke Stewart.
20.
Joe Riggs stepped in as a late replacement for Shonie Carter, who was injured in training.
21.
Joe Riggs lost to Kazuo Misaki at Strikeforce at the Playboy Mansion via controversial stoppage on September 20,2008.
22.
Joe Riggs won his next fight at Strikeforce: Destruction on November 21,2008, against Luke Stewart by TKO in 2nd round 2:05.
23.
Joe Riggs broke his hand throwing the first punch of the bout, but managed to rally in the second round, breaking Stewart's nose in the process.
24.
Joe Riggs next fought on the Strikeforce: Lawler vs Shields card from the Scottrade Center in St Louis, MO on June 6,2009, against Phil "The New York Badass" Baroni in a three-round welterweight bout that won him the interim Strike Force Welter Weight title and that was broadcast live on the Showtime cable network.
25.
On December 9,2010, it was announced that Joe Riggs has parted ways with Strikeforce.
26.
About a month later, on January 10,2011, Joe Riggs signed with Bellator to fight in its Middleweight division.
27.
Joe Riggs made his Bellator debut against Season 2 Middleweight Tournament Finalist Bryan Baker at Bellator 43.
28.
Three months after his knockout loss to Baker at Bellator 43, In a rematch from their bout in 2004 Joe Riggs fought The Ultimate Fighter 3 winner and fellow UFC veteran Kendall Grove.
29.
On May 6,2013, it was announced that Joe Riggs would be featured as a participant on Bellator's reality TV show Fight Master: Bellator MMA, competing as a Welterweight.
30.
Joe Riggs made it to the tournament finals with Mike Bronzoulis.
31.
Joe Riggs was set to face Mike Bronzoulis in the Fight Master Finale on September 7,2013, at Bellator 98.
32.
Joe Riggs won the fight via unanimous decision to become the first winner of Fight Master.
33.
However, Joe Riggs was forced to pull out of the fight after accidentally shooting himself in the hand and leg while cleaning a pistol at his home.
34.
Joe Riggs made his eventual return against Ben Saunders at UFC on Fox: dos Santos vs Miocic on December 13,2014, at US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
35.
Joe Riggs faced Patrick Cote on April 25,2015, at UFC 186.
36.
Joe Riggs was expected to face Uriah Hall in a middleweight bout on August 8,2015, at UFC Fight Night 73.
37.
Joe Riggs won the bout via disqualification after Stallings landed an illegal upkick, which rendered Joe Riggs unable to continue.
38.
Joe Riggs faced Chris Camozzi on February 21,2016, at UFC Fight Night 83.
39.
Joe Riggs lost the fight via TKO in the first round due a series of knees by Camozzi, which broke the right forearm of Riggs.
40.
Joe Riggs then went on to win against Oleg Olenichev and Erick Lozano, securing the KOP Middleweight Championship on February 24,2018.
41.
Joe Riggs recently started competing in Bare Knuckle Boxing matches under the UK based BKB promotion.
42.
Joe Riggs was deducted 1 point in the first round for shooting for a take-down and taking his opponent to the mat, and was warned again in the same round after throwing an illegal elbow.
43.
Joe Riggs made his sophomore appearance in the promotion against Heriberto Tovar at BKFC 4 on February 2,2019.
44.
Joe Riggs then faced Walber Brito de Barros at BKFC 6 on June 22,2019.
45.
Joe Riggs was expected to headline BKFC 10 against fellow UFC veteran Hector Lombard in February 2020.
46.
Joe Riggs then faced Hector Lombard for the inaugural BKFC Cruiserweight Championship at BKFC 18 on June 26,2021.
47.
Joe Riggs faced Melvin Guillard at BKFC Fight Night: Montana on October 9,2021.
48.
Joe Riggs faced Lorenzo Hunt on April 30,2022 at BKFC 24 for the BKFC Light Heavyweight Championship and lost by knockout in the second round.
49.
Joe Riggs was scheduled to face Joseph Creer on August 3,2024 at BKFC 63.