{"id":59924,"date":"2013-05-20T12:10:22","date_gmt":"2013-05-20T19:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=59924"},"modified":"2022-02-06T13:02:16","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T21:02:16","slug":"matt-riddle-joins-bellator-welterweight-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/matt-riddle-joins-bellator-welterweight-roster\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Riddle Joins Bellator Welterweight Roster"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Matt-Riddle.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Matt-Riddle-300x207.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Matt Riddle\" width=\"300\" height=\"207\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-52858\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nWith a division already boasting the likes of Ben Askren, Paul Daley, Douglas Lima, Ben Saunders, Andrey Koreshkov and Karl Amoussou, Matt Riddle knows he will be swimming in \u201cDeep Waters\u201d when he enters the Bellator Welterweight Tournament this Fall as Bellator has signed a long-term promotional agreement with the controversial Pennsylvania native.<\/p>\n<p>Riddle joins Bellator coming off four straight victories with the UFC, but was recently released as he failed his post-fight drug test after his victory over Che Mills. Known for his strong wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu background along with a stifling takedown defense, Riddle is ready to challenge himself against the best in the world inside the Bellator cage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had so many options after I left the UFC, but knowing that I was able to compete in a tournament against guys like Paul Daley, Ben Saunders, and Douglas Lima, signing with Bellator was an easy decision,\u201d Riddle said. \u201cThis division is just so stacked, and being able to fight in a tournament makes it even better. Bellator is doing a lot of great things right now, and I want to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bellator CEO &#038; Chairman Bjorn Rebney understands some of the risks involved with signing Riddle, but after discussions with Riddle, Rebney is confident the 27 year old welterweight is in the right place to impact the welterweight division.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMatt\u2019s got all the tools to be a force in our welterweight division,\u201d Rebney said. \u201cWhen I saw Matt get released from the UFC coming off 4 straight wins including his dominant win over Mills in February, we took notice. We both realize that Matt will have a target on his back for his past indiscretions.  But having discussed it with him, I\u2019m comfortable that he\u2019s in the right place to enter the Bellator cage this fall in what will be the most loaded  Bellator Welterweight Tournament in the promotions history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Riddle isn\u2019t looking too far ahead of himself, it\u2019s clear there are a number of goals he\u2019d like to accomplish on his way to a title shot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo questions asked, I want to win the next Bellator Welterweight Tournament, get my shot at the title and take my beautiful wife to the MTV Awards and meet Snoop Dogg,\u201d Riddle remarked. \u201cI\u2019ve seen all the pictures of Bellator guys walking red carpets and it\u2019s something I want to earn and be able to do. What could be better than that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Riddle\u2019s journey to a Bellator Title shot and future red carpet appearances will begin this fall live on Spike. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With a division already boasting the likes of Ben Askren, Paul Daley, Douglas Lima, Ben Saunders, Andrey Koreshkov and Karl Amoussou, Matt Riddle knows he will be swimming in \u201cDeep Waters\u201d when he enters the Bellator Welterweight Tournament this Fall as Bellator has signed a long-term promotional agreement with the controversial Pennsylvania native. Riddle joins [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2616,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[44],"tags":[10040,126,589,11,649,15,16],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Matt Riddle Joins Bellator Welterweight Roster | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/matt-riddle-joins-bellator-welterweight-roster\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matt Riddle Joins Bellator Welterweight Roster | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With a division already boasting the likes of Ben Askren, Paul Daley, Douglas Lima, Ben Saunders, Andrey Koreshkov and Karl Amoussou, Matt Riddle knows he will be swimming in \u201cDeep Waters\u201d when he enters the Bellator Welterweight Tournament this Fall as Bellator has signed a long-term promotional agreement with the controversial Pennsylvania native. Riddle joins [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/matt-riddle-joins-bellator-welterweight-roster\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-20T19:10:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-06T21:02:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Matt-Riddle-300x207.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BJPENN.COM News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BJPENN.COM News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/matt-riddle-joins-bellator-welterweight-roster\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/matt-riddle-joins-bellator-welterweight-roster\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BJPENN.COM News\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/c76eda1459929ee246658565d177d029\"},\"headline\":\"Matt Riddle Joins Bellator Welterweight Roster\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-20T19:10:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-06T21:02:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/matt-riddle-joins-bellator-welterweight-roster\/\"},\"wordCount\":438,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Bellator\",\"bellator news\",\"Matt Riddle\",\"mma\",\"MMA NEWS\",\"ufc\",\"ufc news\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Bellator\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/matt-riddle-joins-bellator-welterweight-roster\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2013\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/matt-riddle-joins-bellator-welterweight-roster\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/matt-riddle-joins-bellator-welterweight-roster\/\",\"name\":\"Matt Riddle Joins Bellator Welterweight Roster | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-20T19:10:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-06T21:02:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/matt-riddle-joins-bellator-welterweight-roster\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/matt-riddle-joins-bellator-welterweight-roster\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/matt-riddle-joins-bellator-welterweight-roster\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Bellator\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Matt Riddle Joins Bellator Welterweight Roster\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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