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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