MMA Junkie ran their weekly interview with recently eliminated Ultimate Fighter, Matt Riddle, earlier this week. While most of the interview is pretty standard; the laughing, the joking, and a couple curse words here and there, there’s a couple of interesting tidbits worthy of reading.

Apparently Riddle, who trained at Team Russel Jiu-Jitsu before moving to Rat Pack Fighting Systems where he was currently training, had some news to share:

I’m probably going to train with (fellow castmate Mike) Dolce and all those guys at Team Quest North and then with Rampage at Big Bear (Calif.) with the high altitude and stuff to get ready for my fight… Rampage and I got along very well. I got along with Juanito, too, and all the coaches. They still call me to see what I’m doing.

The news doesn’t come as much of a surprise if you think about it. Riddle really needs to be training with other top caliber fighters like his friend from Team Quest and ex-IFL fighter, Mike Dolce along with Rampage and his friends at Big Bear. The surprise comes at how Riddle hints about his treatment from his friends at Rat Pack Fighting Systems.

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Matt Riddle has a lot to say on this season of The Ultimate Fighter. The young fighter from New York is shown throughout the show talking to fellow fighters, his coaches, and the camera. He has been nicknamed “Smiley” and “Chipper” by the fighters and the coaches and you can see why. He’s certainly got a lot to say about himself and the sport, including this:

It doesn’t matter where you train - if you want it, you can get it.

While other fighters are training at Top Team, Serra’s BJJ Academy, and Team Quest, Riddle reminds us that he trains out of Palmerton, PA at Rat Pack Fighting Systems. And with his performance last night, you can clearly see that while a professional training team may help a fighter, it’s certainly not what makes a fighter.

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Here are two more Matt Riddle videos courtesy of Spike TV and AOL!

The Ultimate Fighter - Season 7 - Fighter Interviews - Matthew Riddle

The Ultimate Fighter - Season 7 - Everything to Lose - Matthew Riddle Confessional

For those who want to learn more about the man who delivered a devastating knockout to Dan Simmler on episode two of The Ultimate Fighter 7 earlier this week, here you go! Matt Riddle talks at the gym where he first start training BJJ, Team Russell Jiu-Jitsu.

“He really impressed me and he had great finishing technique,” exclaimed Forrest Griffin. Quinton Jackson said “it was one of the most gruesomest knockouts I’ve ever seen.” Now you can hear what Matt Riddle had to say about his first fight on The Ultimate Fighter 7, episode 2 against Dan Simmler. I met up with Matt Riddle for a few minutes after the second episode of TUF 7 to talk about the first round of the fight, what his parents though about him fighting, and what Quinton Jackson said to him after the fight.

Juanito Ibarra was in your corner for the fight, what did he tell you to do?
“Box like a Southpaw.” I’m a Southpaw and I only got like two minutes with the corner guys and they were like “what’s your style?” and I was like “I’m a wrestler and jiu-jitsu guy with heavy hands” so they said “box like a Southpaw.” So that’s what I did and you can see that it worked out for me.

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This weeks episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7 highlighted a nasty knockout during the Matt Riddle/Dan Simmler fight. While the first round of the fight went back and forth, the second round ended quickly and in scary fashion. After heading out of his corner to touch gloves, Riddle caught Simmler with a vicious right hook and dropped him where he was able to land three more punches before Herb Dean could stop the fight. While Simmler lay unconscious and moaning on the canvas, the camera panned across the TUF 7 fighters. Solemn faces saw something they may never see in the cage again, a Grade 3 concussion. Symptoms include loss of consciousness for any amount of time and amnesia of more than five minutes. When Simmler awoke, he had no idea he had just fought on The Ultimate Fighter in Las Vegas.

According to Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology, when faced with a Grade 3 concussion:

• Transport the athlete from the field to the nearest emergency department by ambulance if still unconscious or if worrisome signs are detected (with cervical spine immobilization, if indicated).
• A thorough neurologic evaluation should be performed emergently, including appropriate neuroimaging procedures when indicated.
• Hospital admission is indicated if any signs of pathology are detected, or if the mental status of the athlete remains abnormal.

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Few people have ever visited the small town of Palmerton, Pennsylvania. Situated in the mountains of the northeast region of the state, it’s home to The Ultimate Fighter’s newest sensation, 22 year old Matt “The Answer” Riddle. While Matt Riddle isn’t the only fighter from the show to come out of a small town, he certainly comes out with a big mouth and even bigger actions to back his words up. If you watched the second episode of The Ultimate Fighter, you saw Matt Riddle deliver one of the most brutal knockouts in the show’s history. A knockout that Quinton Jackson called “knockout of the century.” The young fighter, however, is probably one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. He’s always smiling and more than willing to help anyone learn jiu-jitsu at the facility where he currently trains.

Going back a couple years to 2006, Matt Riddle begin his MMA experience at Jay Russell Jiu-Jitsu in upstate New York. After moving from New York to Pennsylvania to live with his family and train locally in April of 2007, he placed 2nd at the NAGA World’s in the Expert Division. Next came NAGA’s Battle at the Beach where Riddle took home the belt in the mens no-gi Expert division along with a win at Grapplers Quest, and at the Copa Atlantica BJJ tournament. While Riddle was winning these tournaments, he was still a white belt with less than two years of jiu-jitsu experience. He recently won his first amatuer MMA fight with a keylock at the “Battle of the Sun II” before trying out for The Ultimate Fighter in Newark, New Jersey where he was selected to be a part of the show.

Not only has Riddle gone further than most fighters in only 8 years, he also doesn’t train at a large regional facility hosted by a big name UFC star or a well-known trainer. Instead, you can find him in Palmerton, at Rat Pack Fighting Systems. MMA Opinion sat down with Matt Riddle tonight during the second episode of The Ultimate Fighter, Season 7 to discuss his past, training with a Gracie Black Belt, and his move from junior high school wrestling to Division 1 wrestling.

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There’s been a lot of talk about season 8 of the Ultimate Fighter as being a promise of salvation for the heavyweight division, as the show has produced a lot of great prospects for divisions in the past. After all, even the fourth season, which incurred the wrath of hardcore TUF fans by bringing back unknown UFC veterans to line one of the them up with a title shot resurrected the careers of Patrick Cote and Din Thomas (not to mention putting the stars in position for one of the greatest upsets any sport has seen, ever) and made their divisions a little bit more interesting.It’s hard to deny that the show produces great prospects, and even fighters who lose on the show go on to produce interesting careers and allow us the opportunity to watch as their game evolves on the biggest stage American MMA has to offer. We can’t forget Josh Koscheck, who (while losing in the very first round of the show to Diego Sanchez) went on to become a top contender, and it would unfair to say that even more recent prospects like Nate Diaz and Manny Gamburyan (the winner and runner up of TUF 5) have been less than exciting to watch.

It seems, though, that people care more about revitalizing the heavyweight division then they do about the lightheavyweight season starting next week, and I can hardly blame them. It has nothing to do with Forrest Griffin and UFC champion “Rampage” Jackson being any less than absolutely hysterical television personalities and everything to do with the cast list. Despite the new 32 fighter format, which I think it going to be great because, ideally, it will give us more fights, the UFC has gone to immense length to expand a roster that, by my count, has 4 fighters with losing records and 2 that are batting .500, not to mention the 10 guys that are either unlisted or have yet to make their professional debut.

I’m not saying that this season isn’t going to be interesting, because I think that it will be. I’m not a reality show fan, and tend to record episodes so that I can watch the training in the gym and the fights, as well as the occasional shit talk between the coaches, but I’m a little skeptical about a show that offers what I see as offering a huge roster, with only 11 prospects. This, frankly, would have made a great season of the show, if they had just stuck to 16 guys. Still, I could always be wrong about who the real warriors on the show are.

I’m not convinced, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere on the site, that TUF 8 is going to solve the UFC’s heavyweight woes, and I wish that they had dedicated an entire season to the big men, but I understand as much as anybody that the promise of lightweight fights will balance the potentially slow action of the heavier fighters, as it did on TUF 2.

Still, I’ll be watching this season closely because it gives me an opportunity to watch fights, and I’ll never deny myself that.

The guys I’ll be watching the closest:

Paul Bradley (5-0, 2 TKOs, 2 Submissions)

Steve Byernes (6-1, 6 Submissions)

Dante Rivera (10-2, 3 TKOs, 5 Submissions)

Tim Creddeur (9-2, 2 TKO’s, 7 Submissions)

Nick Klien (3-0, 3 Submissions)

Mike Marrello (7-1-1, 5 Submissions)

Aaron Meisner (2-0, 2 TKOs)

Luke Zachrich (7-1, 3 TKOs, 4 Submissions)

I’d also like to note that, unlike alot of other seasons, there are many great submission fighters in this house. Byernes and Rivera are the two that I think are going to be the most interesting, but there are other guys that have a handful of interesting, tapout victories.

It will be a fun season to watch. I only hope that it’s not overshadowed by the fear that the UFC is procrastinating on dealing with the heavyweight problem. Hopefully the UFC brass’ actions over the next few months can easy those worries and we can really watch the fights to see some interesting up and comers and the inevitable pathetic athletes that slip in.

All that’s left to do is wait and watch.

The UFC is in dire need of a few top notch heavyweights to step up and make a run to the title and they are adding to their talent stockpile by using their famous reality show. The MMA reality show “The Ultimate Fighter” in its 8^th season will look to be showcasing lightweights and heavyweights. Rumor has it that if you just happen to be a talented MMA fighter, and in the heart of Red Sox Nation the first week of April, you could run across a TUF tryout. UFC.com has an advertisement for the eighth installment of this show on their homepage. It provides a link to an application.It is no secret that the UFC has a current shortage of big guys. It was no more apparent when they recruited WWE star Brock Lesner and began advertising him more than they did Wanderlei Silva. The UFC hurt themselves when they couldn’t get past contractual issue and sign Fedor. Not only did it not put one of the top fighters in the cage, but also caused problems with their big champion. Most fans are beyond sick of hearing about this, and it also gives Dana haters more fuel to the fire.

The television show “The Ultimate Fighter” has done great things for the sport. Fighters such as Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez, Joe Stevenson, Marcus Davis, and Rashad Evans came from just the first two seasons. There are more than 15 fighters on contract with the UFC that were a part of this series. This show is something that the other organizations want, but do not have.

Arguably the weakest division in the world’s strongest MMA organization may get a boost in talent from the show. If the show does indeed center on heavyweights, it could bring in a handful of fighters that would add depth to the depleted division. Constant exposure from the cameras will give the world enough time to fall in love or hate a fighter. This love hate relationship between the fans and fighters is one of the things that draw viewers. If you hate Matt Hughes you will purchase a PPV in hopes that he gets knocked out and if your favorite fighter is stepping into the cage, you will buy it to cheer him to victory.

This show has meant more to the UFC than ever imagined. The 7^th season will begin April 2^nd with a fight your way in mentality. 32 fighters will be cut in half, as they fight to earn their spot on the show. Every season their have been drama and special moments that made each season unique; Chris Leben spitting on another’s bed or the constant drama between coaches BJ Penn and Jens Pulver. I look for it to continue in April. This may be the most talented group of fighters on the show yet. It will showcase All-American wrestlers, Champion Jui-Jitsu practitioners, and fighters from the elite teams such as Team Quest. This was a brilliant idea and will continue to stock up the talent for the UFC leading up to the much needed TUF 8 season.

It looks like MMA Junkie has learned that The Ultimate Fighter Season 7 had a “big” change in format. Yes, just one and it’s really not what we had expected, but it’s better than nothing. If that is the only big change this year, is that going to be enough to keep viewers from complaining about the lack of real action on the show? Maybe. Is it going to be enough to keep the entire show interesting? Well, no.

With the news that The Ultimate Fighter will initially feature 32 fighters, you may be wondering how the show will be able to keep track of 32 guys over the course of two hours or less. Well, with 16 matches determining the 16 fighters to stay on the show, we’ll quickly learn who stays and who goes and the 16 losers won’t get their 15 (or even just 10) minutes of fame.

In just one or two episodes, we can expect up to 16 fights - most likely crammed into a highlight of fight inexperience and wrestling abilities. While that sounds like a good reason to watch the upcoming season, it really only gives us a reason to watch the first couple episodes. After the initial fights, should we expect the same boring “16 fights in a house” drama? For the sake of all viewers, I certainly hope not. Let’s see if the UFC had some other ideas for TUF 7 before we start complaining again.

These two images from the Huerta-Guida fight on Saturday tell a very exciting story.

In fact, this fight is being called one the best fights of the year by quite a few people in the community. It’s undeniable that both Huerta and Guida put on an amazing show and both of these guys deserve to continue fighting in the UFC for as long as they continue to show this kind of determination and spirit in the cage. For those who still didn’t see the fight, the first two rounds were dominated by Guida who routinely had his way with Huerta by the way of takedowns.
Guida, in his classic frenzied style, refused to slow down going into the third round even though he could have easily won via a judges decision. That, my friends, is a true MMA fighter right there. Hats off to both fighters and I can’t wait to see a rematch. If you want to see an animated gif of these two fighters as they prepare to start the third round, click the link to continue on.

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We are getting close to wrapping up the Ultimate Fighter Season 6 and I wanted to take a look back at all of the fighters that were pardoned from The Ultimate Fighter during the past six seasons to see where they presently stood in MMA. Some of these fighters were removed from the show willingly or due of injury while others were yanked off television at the hands of an angry Dana White. I did not include fighters who did not make it past Week 1 because there’s nothing to really take from their performance on the show. In the end, we can determine if The Ultimate Fighter was a stepping stone for fighters or merely advertising for the UFC. Then we’ll take a look at how these guys stack up to the ex-TUF fighters who are still in the UFC.

Noah Inhofer: This spectacled fighter seemed like he had a chance to shine as a TUF 3 contestant back in 2005, but things quickly changed after he received a message from his girlfriend stating that there were some problems back home. Inhofer decided he wanted to leave immediately and end his stint as an Ultimate Fighter to be with his friends and family. This is where the famous Dana White “do you wanna be a fighter” speech comes back to the show after the first season. Although White was able to paint a very sharp picture of a possible career-ending decision to Inhofer, this didn’t stop him from leaving and the now ex-UFC fighter went on the record after departing the show to defend his actions.

“People say that they would give up everything for the ones they love. I feel honored that I actually got to do that, not that she was the lone reason,” Inhofer said in an interview Thursday afternoon. “The point is, I knew she was hurting, and I’m not the kind of person that could let that go. It would have been selfish of me to know she was going through these hard times without me being by her side.”

It wasn’t just all about leaving the show either. Inhofer claims that the producers added some drama to the situation as well.

“All of the things on there happened, but they’re taken out of context,” he said. “Also the producers can find things in order to push you in a certain direction.

“If you had a TV show where everyone got along, people wouldn’t watch it.”

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I’ll admit that I was expecting two hours of boring and cheesy TUF commentary on Spike TV last night. That is until I saw a bruised Forrest Griffin and and his TUF co-pilot Stephan Bonnar as the shows’ two co-hosts. This should be a good time for all. We have the two goofiest light heavyweights in the organization discussing the best moments in the show that they helped to propel into the mainstream. We’ll talk more about their role in the history of TUF on the second part of this article. On to the Top 25!

25: Season 1 - Chris “The Crippler” Leben decides he is going to get drunk enough to urinate all over another bed. He heartedly calls it a “spritz” and makes sure that it’s rubbed into the sheets before the victim returns to his bed.

24: Season 4 - Shonie Carter wants to train with the other team and jumps into their van uninvited. He proceeds to drop the F bomb about 27 times mostly in the phrase “I don’t give a fuck” for apparently no reason. Mr. International shows how us to be dumb on television.

23: Season 4 - Mikey Burnett thinks he is a football player and runs into a wall of the TUF house repeatedly. Awesome! Sorta. I guess…

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Is it just me or has the overall talent on The Ultimate Fighter really started to drop off? I recall the first season, which was a cast filled with familiar names to those who were paying attention before Spike TV got in the mix. That season boasts the largest number of fighters who are still active within the UFC. But let’s be real. Koscheck, Diego, Swick, Leben, Griffin, Bonnar and even Quarry were all UFC bound with or without the show.

Ever since that first season we’ve seen the talent pool on the show dwindle and continue to dwindle. I’m not much into the drama aspect of the show, and often times have found myself fast forwarding my TiVo straight to the actual fight.

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It’s a good day for BJ Penn.

The Hawaiian fighter who made easy work of his much-hated opponent, Jens Pulver, walked away with an estimated $100,000 from The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale match. Moments after the win, an embrace with Pulver, and a very well spoken post-fight speech by his opponent, Penn attempted to plug his website, www.bjpenn.com, to the sold-out crowd of the Pearl at the Palms and to the millions of televised viewers. What Penn didn’t know is that his site went down on Saturday thanks to the surge of web traffic and has just returned to the online world.

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Alright we’re live tonight from the Palms in Las Vegas with Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan. Obviously we’re going to open with interviews from Nate Diaz, Manny Gamburyan, BJ Penn, and Jens Pulver.

Not sure if anyone is aware of this, but Jens Pulver and BJ Penn have fought before. This has has been mentioned several times and Mike Goldberg has only been on the air for four minutes. I mean really he’s not redundant at all.

I love seeing BJ at 155. He looks so small it’s ridiculous. We should have three hours of good fights let’s see how it goes.

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In only 48 hours, one of the most anticipated lightweight rematches will be taking place at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. BJ Penn will be avenging his 2002 loss to Jens Pulver as the headline event of what should be a very exciting night for many Ultimate Fighter fans. Penn promised to take the fight to the ground and physically hurt Pulver in retaliation for the Majority Decision loss in UFC 35. Both fighters have continued to show absolutely no love for each other throughout The Ultimate Fighter 5.

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