Matt Riddle

Matthew Frederick Riddle (January 14, 1986) is an American mixed martial artist and professional wrestler currently signed to the World Wrestling Network. A professional MMA competitor since 2008, Riddle made a name for himself by appearing on SpikeTV's The Ultimate Fighter 7.

Early life
Riddle was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and later moved to Saratoga Springs, New York, where he attended Saratoga Springs High School. He graduated from high school in 2004 and then attended East Stroudsburg University, where he was a member of the wrestling team for two years. After his head coach was fired, Riddle lost his wrestling scholarship and moved to MMA.

Mixed martial arts
Riddle's main experience comes from high school wrestling. He wrestled at Saratoga High School in upstate New York. There Riddle was a National wrestling Champion and in his Senior year was a New York state wrestling champion. He is 1-0 in amateur MMA.

Riddle worked as a roofer and trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the evenings. Since Riddle had little to no money, he did not train at a gym but in his apartment. Riddle used BJ Penn's book, Mixed Martial Arts: The Book of Knowledge to help him learn.

The Ultimate Fighter
Riddle fought Dan Simmler, an understudy of Matt Serra, to get into the TUF house. Riddle knocked out Simmler in the opening seconds of the second round and struck him three times in the jaw after he had lost consciousness, breaking Simmler's jaw in two places. It was called the biggest knockout in The Ultimate Fighter history by Dana White and the knock out of the century by Quinton Jackson. Riddle was picked second for team Rampage. During the show's taping, Riddle was given the nickname Chipper after Rampage noticed him always smiling.

Riddle's second fight was against Tim Credeur. Credeur defeated Riddle via armbar in the second round, knocking Riddle out of the tournament. After the fight, Credeur bought Riddle an Xbox 360 with his earnings.

During the show, Riddle was consistently shown arguing with the older and more experienced, Dante Rivera. Dante, on more the one occasion, stated that he would retire if Riddle defeated him.

Ultimate Fighting Championship
At The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale held on June 21, 2008, Riddle made his UFC and professional debut defeating fellow Ultimate Fighter castmate, Dante Rivera, via unanimous decision (29–28, 30–27, 30–27).

Riddle was then scheduled to fight Ryan Thomas at UFC 91, but a knee injury had forced Riddle out of the fight. Recovery for the knee injury was scheduled to take 6–8 weeks.

After recovering, Riddle fought and defeated Steve Bruno via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) at UFC Fight Night: Lauzon vs. Stephens.

In his third UFC bout, Riddle defeated another one of his former Ultimate Fighter 7 cast mates, Dan Cramer via unanimous decision on the undercard of UFC 101.

He next faced TUF 9 alumni, Nick Osipczak on November 14, 2009 at UFC 105. The fight was held in Osipczak's home country of England. Riddle lost the fight by TKO in the third round.

After his loss to Osipczack, Riddle faced UFC newcomer Greg Soto on March 27, 2010 at UFC 111. After a dominant first two rounds for Riddle, Soto landed an illegal upkick to Riddle's head in the third round which rendered him unable to continue, giving Riddle the victory by disqualification.

Riddle faced DaMarques Johnson on August 1, 2010 at UFC on Versus 2. The fight was a catchweight bout after Johnson weighed in at 172 lbs and Riddle would go on to win the fight via TKO due to punches near the end of round 2.

Riddle was expected to face TJ Waldburger on December 11, 2010 at UFC 124. However, Waldburger was forced from the card with an injury[12] and replaced by promotional newcomer Sean Pierson. Pierson defeated Riddle via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) and the bout was dubbed by UFC president Dana White as the real Fight of the Night.

Riddle was expected to face Ultimate Fighter castmate, Matt Brown, on March 3, 2011 at UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann, replacing an injured Mark Scanlon.[14] However, Riddle was also injured, resulting in the Brown fight being scrapped from the card altogether.

Riddle was expected to face TJ Grant on June 26, 2011 at UFC on Versus 4. However, Riddle was forced from the bout with an injury and replaced by Charlie Brenneman.

Riddle faced undefeated welterweight prospect Lance Benoist who was making his Octagon debut on September 17, 2011 at UFC Fight Night: Shields vs. Ellenberger. He lost the fight via unanimous decision in a bout that earned Fight of the Night honors.

Riddle was expected to fight Luis Ramos on December 30, 2011 at UFC 141. However the fight was called off as Riddle became ill and had to pull out just moments before the fight took place.

Riddle was expected to face Jorge Lopez on February 4, 2012 at UFC 143, replacing an injured Amir Sadollah. However, Lopez was also forced out of the bout and replaced by promotional newcomer Henry Martinez. He won the fight via split decision.

The bout between Riddle/Ramos was rescheduled for June 22, 2012 at UFC on FX 4. However, Riddle was forced from the bout with another injury and replaced by Matt Brown.

Riddle stepped in for Siyar Bahadurzada on short notice to fight Chris Clements at UFC 149. Riddle won the fight after catching Clements in a standing arm-triangle choke, forcing him to submit at 2:02 in the third round. Riddle won a $65,000 Submission of the Night bonus; this also marked the first submission win of his professional career. On October 20, 2012, it was announced that Riddle had failed his post fight drug test, testing positive for marijuana. Riddle was subsequently fined and suspended for 90 days, retroactive to July 21, 2012. His win over Clements was changed to a No Contest.

Riddle was originally expected to face Besam Yousef on November 17, 2012 at UFC 154, replacing an injured Stephen Thompson. However, Yousef was forced out with injury and replaced by John Maguire. Riddle defeated Maguire via unanimous decision.

Riddle faced Che Mills on February 16, 2013 at UFC on Fuel TV: Barao vs. McDonald. Riddle defeated Mills via split decision. On February 26, 2013, Riddle revealed that he had tested positive for marijuana. This was his second failed drug test within a year, and Riddle was subsequently released from the promotion. He finished his UFC career ranked 3rd in UFC history for takedown defense (89.3%) and 8th for total strikes landed (1350), and without positive marijuana tests would have held an octagon record of 9-3 with a streak of four consecutive victories.

Bellator MMA
Shortly after being released from the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC), Riddle signed a multi-fight deal with Texas-based promotion, Legacy Fighting Championships. However, on May 18, 2013, it was announced that Riddle instead joined the Bellator MMA roster after his Legacy FC contract had been purchased by the promotion. Riddle was expected to compete in the Bellator's welterweight tournament during their ninth season which begins in the Fall of 2013. However Riddle cracked his rib and had to pull out of the tournament, and subsequently retired from MMA fighting due to financial reasons. A few weeks later Riddle came out of retirement and is expected to fight at Bellator 109. Once again Riddle pulled out of that fight and has been released from Bellator in total.

Titan FC
Riddle fought fellow former UFC fighter Michael Kuiper in the co-main event of Titan FC 27 on February 28, 2014. Riddle won by second round guillotine choke.

Riddle was expected to face MMA legend Jose Landi-Jons for the vacant TFC Welterweight Championship at Titan FC 29 on August 22, 2014. However, Landi-Jons was forced out of the bout due to visa issues, and was replaced by UFC veteran Ben Saunders. However, Riddle was forced out of the bout due to injury, and was replaced by the man he was originally scheduled to face, Jose Landi-Jons.

Professional wrestling
On October 29, 2014, it was reported that Riddle was training for a career in professional wrestling. Riddle made his professional wrestling debut on February 7, 2015, at the Monster Factory in Paulsboro, New Jersey. On July 11, 2015, Riddle won the Monster Factory Heavyweight Championship. On September 15, 2015, it was announced that Riddle had signed with WWNLive to work the October Evolve events. Riddle later confirmed that he had taken part in a WWE tryout, which led to them setting up the booking with Evolve. Riddle made his debut at EVOLVE 49 on October 17, defeating Jonathan Gresham. During his debut year, Riddle wrestled in the next three Evolve events including EVOLVE 50 where he defeated Chris Dickinson, EVOLVE 51 defeating Drew Gulak, and then two matches at EVOLVE 52 including singles match victory against Tracy Williams, followed by a tag match where he and Timothy Thatcher wrestled team Catch Point (Drew Gulak & TJ Perkins) to a No-Contest finish.

Personal life
Riddle is a father of twin daughters and a son.

In wrestling

 * Nicknames
 * "Deep Waters"
 * "Chipper"

Championships and accomplishments

 * Mixed Martial Arts
 * Ultimate Fighting Championship Submission of the Night (1 time) vs. Chris Clements
 * Fight of the Night (1 time) vs. Lance Benoist


 * Professional wrestling
 * Monster Factory Pro Wrestling
 * Monster Factory Heavyweight Championship (1 time)


 * PROGRESS Wrestling
 * PROGRESS Atlas Championship (1 time, current)


 * World Wrestling Network
 * WWN Championship (1 time, current)


 * Keystone Pro Wrestling
 * KPW Tag Team Championship (1 time w/ Punishment Martinez)