Former UFC welterweight and Ultimate Fighter alum Matthew Riddle announced his retirement from mixed martial arts on Monday evening and had some harsh words about the sports as a whole.
Riddle spoke to Ben Fowlkes of MMAJunkie.com and stated that he did not want anything to do with the sport anymore and the decision to retire was not a tough one to make.
Riddle was scheduled to make his Bellator MMA debut next week in Arizona and face Sergio Junior in the opening round of the season nine welterweight tournament but he injured his rib in training and would be unable to compete.
During his interview with Fowlkes, Riddle claims that he asked Bellator to schedule him a fight for later in the year but the organization told him that they would not be able to do that. With being unable to get a fight booked before the end of the year, Riddle decided to leave the sport and get a full time job.
UFC President Dana White was asked about Riddle’s comments by UFC Tonight commentator and current UFC light heavyweight fighter Chael Sonnen. In an exclusive video released by FOX Sports (below), White had choice words for Riddle including how much the fighter made in the UFC over the last two years.
“The story that was written that he made all of these allegations about mixed martial arts businesses are run by these bad guys, these scumbags, this and that,” White said. “He basically said I want to get back into the real world and start working. I want to get a job where I know I am going to get a paycheck. I am not going to get punched in the face and get brain damage and I know I am going to get treated fairly. He said that we treated him unfairly and our competitor treated him unfairly.”
“Those guys signed him and now they won’t give him a fight till January. If you sign a contract with the UFC, I owe you three fights a year. If you don’t fight those three fights in a year because of me, I still have to pay you your money. From 2011 to 2013, that guy was making $162,000 a year. Now understand this, the guy fights on prelims. Does Matt Riddle sell anymore tickets? Does he sell anymore pay-per-views? The guy is fighting on the prelims.”
“The reason that he is not in the UFC anymore is because he could not pass a drug test. The guy could not pass a drug test. Think about this, you have to go to work three times a year and you could not pass a drug test. Your so weak minded and so addicted to marijuana that you could not stay it off enough to pass a drug test three times a year. Well guess what dummy, they drug test in the real world too.”
Since Riddle made his comments, Bellator MMA Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney has not made any comments but will likely be asked to comment on the situation on Friday when Bellator 99 takes place in California.