It’s been a little over a month since former WEC Middleweight Champion and Fight Master winner Joe Riggs accidentally shot himself.
“I’m healing really fast. I was actually sparring today, I’m f***ing sparring and it’s been just over a month.”
In an exclusive interview with Aaron Robbins, Riggs opened up about the incident, as well as the horrific backlash he received.
“There are a lot of f***ed up people out there,” Riggs said, “There was this one guy trying to re-create how I shot myself on YouTube, there were people saying I was trying to kill myself, and I can’t tell you how many times I read that this happened while I was trying to clean the gun. I wasn’t cleaning the gun. Nobody cleans a f***ing loaded gun!
Riggs was set to fight this weekend against Paulo Thiago at UFC Fight Night: Silva vs. Arlovski before the incident occurred. A lot of the negative backlash Riggs received was due to having to pull out of the fight, his first in the UFC since 2006.
“Believe it or not, the very first thought that went through my mind was Joe Silva. The reason he was reluctant to have me back is because I have been inconsistent, I pulled out of a lot of fights, and he told me that couldn’t happen anymore and then this happens.”
Riggs explained in horrific detail the night of the incident, and after barely surviving, was told he would never fight again.
“My hand surgeon, who is the best in the country, looked at my hand, and he told my wife that I need two hands to fight and I only have one, so my career as a fighter was over.
Even though doctors gave Riggs a grim outlook, the fighter had his sights set on a December fight date, and an event in his home state of Arizona.
“I set my sights on December, but when I said that to the doctors they kind of laughed at me. It’s the first time the UFC has held an event in Arizona so I feel really blessed to be on the card.”
A meeting with UFC matchmaker Joe Silva will take place on Tuesday to see if he will be medically cleared to fight on the card.
“The UFC will announce my opponent after that, but honestly I don’t care who it is. It doesn’t matter because once you come as close to dying as I have, what is there to be afraid of? There’s nothing.”
Check out the full interview with Joe Riggs by clicking this link.
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