43 Facts About Joe Riggs

1.

Joseph Jonathan Riggs was born on September 23,1982 and is an American professional bare-knuckle boxer and former mixed martial artist who is currently signed to Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.

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2.

Joe Riggs began wrestling at Cactus High School in Glendale, Arizona.

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3.

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.

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4.

Joe Riggs has trained at Arizona Combat Sports under the Lally brothers, MMA Lab under John Crouch and TNT Training Center under Scott Tannenbaum.

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5.

Joe Riggs made his WEC debut at WEC 9 against Alex Stiebling, in what was his debut at Light Heavyweight.

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6.

Joe Riggs lost via triangle choke submission in the second round.

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7.

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.

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8.

Joe Riggs received his shot at the UFC Welterweight Championship at UFC 56 in November 2005 against Matt Hughes.

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9.

Joe Riggs was originally supposed to face the winner of the upcoming title fight.

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10.

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.

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11.

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.

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12.

Joe Riggs then moved up to Middleweight to face The Ultimate Fighter alumnus Mike Swick.

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13.

Joe Riggs then fought The Ultimate Fighter 2's Jason Von Flue, submitting him with a triangle choke.

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14.

Joe Riggs lost the fight due to knockout from a hook followed by a knee in 1:45 of the first round.

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15.

Joe Riggs lost to Cory Devela via submission in his Strikeforce debut at Strikeforce: At The Dome.

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16.

Joe Riggs was to return to action on Strikeforce: Melendez vs Thomson, facing Jiujitsu specialist Luke Stewart.

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17.

Joe Riggs stepped in as a late replacement for Shonie Carter, who was injured in training.

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18.

Joe Riggs lost to Kazuo Misaki at Strikeforce at the Playboy Mansion via controversial stoppage on September 20,2008.

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19.

Joe Riggs won his next fight at Strikeforce: Destruction on November 21,2008, against Luke Stewart by TKO in 2nd round 2:05.

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20.

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.

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21.

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.

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22.

About a month later, on January 10,2011, Joe Riggs signed with Bellator to fight in its Middleweight division.

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23.

Joe Riggs made his Bellator debut against Season 2 Middleweight Tournament Finalist Bryan Baker at Bellator 43.

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24.

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.

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25.

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.

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26.

Joe Riggs made it to the tournament finals with Mike Bronzoulis.

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27.

Joe Riggs was set to face Mike Bronzoulis in the Fight Master Finale on September 7,2013 at Bellator 98.

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28.

Joe Riggs won the fight via unanimous decision to become the first winner of Fight Master.

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29.

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.

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30.

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.

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31.

Joe Riggs was expected to face Uriah Hall in a middleweight bout on August 8,2015 at UFC Fight Night 73.

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32.

Joe Riggs won the bout via disqualification after Stallings landed an illegal upkick, which rendered Joe Riggs unable to continue.

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33.

Joe Riggs faced Chris Camozzi on February 21,2016 at UFC Fight Night 83.

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34.

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.

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35.

Joe Riggs recently started competing in Bare Knuckle Boxing matches under the UK based BKB promotion.

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36.

Joe Riggs won a championship fight against Christian “Fat Boy“ Evans, an experienced bare knuckle fighter who had been featured in the documentary "Bare Knuckle Fight Club" from Channel 4 news, by unanimous decision at BKB 4.

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37.

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.

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38.

Joe Riggs made his sophomore appearance in the promotion against Heriberto Tovar at BKFC 4 on February 2,2019.

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39.

Joe Riggs then faced Walber Brito de Barros at BKFC 6 on June 22,2019.

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40.

Joe Riggs was expected to headline BKFC 10 against fellow UFC veteran Hector Lombard in February 2020.

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41.

Joe Riggs then faced Hector Lombard for the inaugural BKFC Cruiserweight Championship at BKFC 18 on June 26,2021.

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42.

Joe Riggs faced Melvin Guillard at BKFC Fight Night: Montana on October 9,2021.

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43.

Joe Riggs has a daughter named Jadin who is 3 years younger than his son.

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