lol never knew that had to find the story here is the interview with both of em
MMA Weekly conducted phone interviews with Joe Rigg’s & Nick Diaz after their fight at UFC 57.
Joe Riggs
‘The Diesel,’ Joe Riggs, and Nick Diaz exchanged words in the days leading up to their UFC 57: ‘Liddell vs Couture 3? slugfest. They sparred verbally at the elevators, at the weigh-ins, after the weigh-ins, before, during, and after their fight. They went three rounds in the octagon and had an unsanctioned fourth round at a Las Vegas hospital. Riggs recently spoke with MMAWeekly Radio about his battle with Nick Diaz, both in and out of the octagon.
MMAWeekly: Joe, first of all, I want to first congratulate you because I thought you looked good at 170. Watching it on television is one thing, but sitting ringside and hearing the power shots you landed on Nick Diaz’ face was just wow.
Joe Riggs: Yea. It was good.
MMAWeekly: Talk about his fight. It was a very entertaining fight and a good way to kick off the pay-per-view. How did you see it?
Riggs: It was good man. I haven’t seen the fight yet. I was going to watch it today, but it felt good. I got pretty tired, so I wasn’t good. I was just really surprised that he took so many shots. It was a little discouraging.
MMAWeekly: How frustrated were you because you were just popping him?
Riggs: Dude. That guy, like when I fought Cabbage, I was wailing on his face like that, but that’s Cabbage man. I hit Diaz hard a lot of times, and it didn’t seem to hurt him until the third round. I don’t know man. He’s tough. I mean, I don’t like the bastard, but he’s a tough guy.
MMAWeekly: You get this win. It was a tough, tough fight. 170, do you still want to fight at 170? What are you going to do now?
Riggs: I don’t know man. I don’t know. I really don’t know. I’ll have to sit down and talk to Billy [Rush] and see what we want to do, but it’s so hard for me cutting the weight. I was in great shape. I was in great shape for that fight, but I gassed out because of the weight cutting probably.
MMAWeekly: Go to 185 bro. 170 kills you.
Riggs: I know man. I know. People say that my power is lost. That is true. I’m not as strong, but I don’t know. You’re probably right. I’ll be wrestling back and forth with this for a couple of weeks.
MMAWeekly: So you fight, and you have to go to the hospital and get checked out. What the heck happened at the hospital man?
Riggs: Lets clear things up here. Everyone keeps saying that he knocked me out at the hospital. That’s bullshit.
MMAWeekly: You go to the hospital, take us through this entire situation. You were getting checked out or what? What happened?
Riggs: I was just getting my hands checked out from beating his head so many times. They separated us at the hospital because he keeps talking crap, just going back and forth. He won’t shut up.
MMAWeekly: Were you in the waiting room, or where you actually in a room?
Riggs: We were like going to get a room, and like he is always popping off, talking smack. I go down toward his end of the hospital to find a doctor so he could watch me pee in a cup for the boxing commission, and he comes talking smack. I’m like, go back to the WEC. You’re bush league. You just got beat up. That’s two in a row. You’re out. I was just standing around talking sh#t to him. He was like, that’s it, and comes out of his room. I had my hands down. He starts coming up to me. I just never in a million years thought he’d throw a punch. He threw a right hook and hit me right in the chin. I mean it hit me right on the button. I seriously can’t say that I was knocked out, but I kind of went down to a knee. Then we just fought and scrambled. I put him against the wall and just Thai clinched and started kneeing the sh#t out of him. His nose was bleeding. I kept kneeing him, and they broke us up. That’s all that happened.
MMAWeekly: You had an IV in your arm while all of this was happening?
Riggs: Yea. I had an IV going. My blood was spraying everywhere. It was like a horror movie. I’m kneeing him and telling his brother, I’m like, come get your brother off of me. He was like, nothing I can do, man. No. His brother, that guy is an idiot, just hanging off his ball sack like a barnacle. I swear to God, I thought he was all for show. Nick Diaz is legitimately nuts. He’s crazy.
MMAWeekly: That is nuts.
Riggs: It was crazy man. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. That guy is fricken nuts man. After that, he keeps jawing and talking more crap. I’m like, oh my God dude. I guess Cesar Gracie is telling everybody that we squared up and started throwing down and he knocked me unconscious, and we had to pay them to get him off me, or something like that. I don’t know
MMAWeekly: Who stopped this thing because I’m sure the hospital is tripping?
Riggs: Yea. They were squealing. There was this fat lady going Waa, Waa. It was hilarious. This black security guard, a real big dude separated us.
MMAWeekly: That is unbelievable. That’s nuts.
Riggs. Yea. It is nuts man.
MMAWeekly: You fight for three rounds and then you bang it out at the hospital?
Riggs: Yea. I was done. My hands hurt so bad. I hit him in the forehead too. I was tired of hitting him man. I had to hit him again and I was like I don’t want to do it any more. He wasn’t done. He wanted to go a couple of more man. He was getting his stitches. He was getting stitched up and he comes flying out there. God. Dude. That is so unprofessional. There is no way he should ever be allowed to fight back in the UFC. That’s what I would say . . . I had never met him before this weekend, so I wasn’t talking smack in any interviews and stuff like that. I see him down at the fights and he is like, are you going to make weight? Are you going to make weight this time? I’m like, you better f#%king hope not. We’re just going back and forth. I never met him before in my life, and he starts talking crap right off the bat.
MMAWeekly: This entire week was crazy. I know you guys had words in the lobby, and then I know at the weigh-ins you were getting ready to step on the scales and you guys are just jawing back and forth.
Riggs: It was nuts. I was going upstairs. I was going upstairs to go take a pee. I look over and he’s right in my face. I was like, here it goes. I’ve never been in a situation like that before. I mean unprovoked. I don’t know man.
MMAWeekly: At the urinal, and he is staring you down?
Riggs: Yea. He was staring at my dong. I don’t know what he was staring at. The guy is nuts. I hope I never see that guy again.
MMAWeekly: Diaz landed a nice shot on you in the first round, how hurt was you in that fight?
Riggs: I had just got stitches out of my eye before. I cut myself a few times before the fight, and he head-butted it and opened it up a little bit. Other than that, he didn’t land too many punches.
MMAWeekly: Joe, what do you do now as far as your career goes? If you had to make a decision today, would it be at 185 or would it be at 170?
Riggs: 185.
MMAWeekly: I like 185 a lot better for you.
Riggs: I went down to 170, gave it a shot, beat a couple of tough guys down there, and now I’ll go up to 185 and see what’s next. You know it’s going to be me and fat-headed Leben. That is who it’s going to be because Joe [Silva] was just talking about that fight.
MMAWeekly: Hold on Riggs. You just got done fighting Diaz and talking about how big of a mouth he has. You just said you should go up to 185. You just now said you’re thinking about it. You’re automatically calling Leben a fat-head.
Riggs: He’s got a fat head . . . He’s a tough fighter. I’ve met him before. He’s a nice guy, but he’s got a fat head. There is not getting around that.
MMAWeekly: So you think you’ll be fighting Leben next?
Riggs: I think that is a very good possibility. Who knows? I think that’s a fight that people want to see. That’s a fight that is fun man. Who knows? We could see that, and there are a lot of options. We’ll see . . . I hope Joe Silva doesn’t get mad at me for bringing that up.
MMAWeekly: That’s okay. We’re pushing for it anyway. I don’t care if the fight has not been talked about . . . What a weird week for you, but you got the win. Those power shots were pretty amazing to sit there ringside and hear them. Congratulations. Great win for you. You were in a must win situation.
Riggs: I’m back.
MMAWeekly: Congratulations. You’re back. You got a nice win and we’re looking forward to seeing you, we’re pushing for Leben in May. We’ll work it out.
Riggs: Sounds good guys.
MMAWeekly: All right Diesel. Talk to you.
Riggs: Later.
Source
Nick Diaz
Nick Diaz lost a hard-fought decision against Joe ‘The Diesel’ Riggs at UFC 57: ‘Liddell vs Couture 3.’ Riggs gave his account of what took place last Saturday night between the two, in and out of the octagon. Nick Diaz recently spoke with MMAWeekly Radio and told his version of the story.
MMAWeekly: You guys throw down in the ring for three rounds, and then you throw down after. What happened at the hospital?
Nick Diaz: I told him, if you come over here, I’m going to beat your f#%king ass. You know what I mean?
MMAWeekly: He said you’re the one that provoked it. You’re saying he’s the one that provoked it?
Diaz: I walked into the hospital talking sh#t. I had already talked sh#t after the fight. After the fight, I went in the back, and I was all, f#%k you, you f#%king bitch. I’ll fight you all night. He was over here talking to a bunch of people and stuff, and I was like, f#%k you. He was all, f#%k you. I won. He’s all this and that. He goes, go back to the WEC motherf#%ker. I go into the hospital, right? As soon as I walk into the door with my brother, this motherf#%ker is strapped to a God d#%n gurney. Okay? I’m like, what the f#%k? I’m like, why are you strapped to a God d#%n gurney?
I wouldn’t even have gone to the hospital, first of all. If I win a fight, I don’t even care if I need stitches. I ain’t going to no f#%king hospital. I’ve got a press conference and all of that stuff. I would have taken care of that sh#t first. So anyway, he’s in the hospital, getting his big steroided ass a f#%king IV or whatever. Right when I walk in there, he is looking at me and he is strapped to a gurney. He was all strapped in, and I walked into my room. He was all, whatever. F#%k you. I won. He goes, go back to the WEC. He was all like, go back to the WEC. I was like, f#%k you, you f#%king bitch. I’ll was, I’ll still fight you, you little bitch ass. I said, you don’t want to fight me right now. You’ll get your f#%king ass whooped. The put me over in a little room, and he’s over standing with Billy Rush, or whoever the hell he was, his partner on the whole other side of the hospital. You know what I mean? There was like a nurses station and the emergency doors, right in front of the nurses station, and a little office room next to that. On his side, that’s the hallway, in between the door and the nurses station.
MMAWeekly: Right.
Diaz: I’m in one room at the end of the hall, and he is at the other in of the hall with a bunch of people. He walked all the way down. I don’t know if they sent him over there to get something from the nurses station. You know, because I was a little bit closer to the nurses station. I don’t know if they sent him over there, or if he walked over there close to my room, by my room. When he did, he walked all the way over to my room, and I was like, what the f#%k are you doing over here?
Do you want to get your ass whooped or what? I was all, I didn’t even say that. I started talking sh#t to him when walked over to my room. He was talking sh#t to me too, so I wasn’t going to sit there in my room. I got up out of my room, walked out of my room, and I was like, what’s up bitch. He threw up his hands and started doing his little Joe Riggs dance around and sh#t. I f#%king knocked him down. Then he got up and started trying to take me down. I turned him around. I put double under-hooks because he had a single leg. I put both my arms under his. I turned him because I’m hopping on one leg. So I hopped him on one leg, and I hopped him into the little office right next to the doors. You know, where the emergency doors open? You can’t get in, but you can get out unless you are an ambulance or whatever. I would have hopped him through those doors; I should have hopped him through those doors and outside, should have taken it outside. But I hopped him into this room and I started punching him in his face up against this wall in this room.
And then the f#%king security ran in and grabbed me. I stopped fighting the security and sh#t. I was like, all right, all right, all right. I’m sorry. I’m sorry because they were about to tase us or some sh#t. Seriously, they were going to tase us. The cops came in. I figured the cops would have arrested us, but they were Nick Diaz fans or whatever. One of them got an autograph. They were like, hell no I’m not arresting this guy. He’s my favorite fighter. I couldn’t believe it. We were in Vegas, so I figured that is the reason why. I signed some autographs for the police. He was like, get your brother man. Get your brother man. Get your brother man, please. He was like, get your brother man. He’s crazy. I’m like, f#%k you. He walked over to my side of the hospital, though. I didn’t walk over there to his side of the hospital and try to fight him. I stayed on my side of the hospital. I stayed in my room. Okay?
MMAWeekly: Some people are going to say that you should have walked away in the hospital.
Diaz: I should have, but you know what I’m saying? He shouldn’t have came over talking sh#t. He’s the one who put his hands up, tried to fight me. I ain’t no bitch. You know what I’m saying?
MMAWeekly: You felt provoked and that is why you did your thing?
Diaz: Yea. I ain’t no bitch. You know what I mean? That’s why I said I’ll fight him all night. I’d fight him right now. If he were here, I’d fight him right now.
MMAWeekly: Nick, aren’t you worried about what the UFC will do now? Aren’t you worried that you could be kicked out because of this incident?
Diaz: I didn’t start it. How the f#%k did I start that sh#t?
MMAWeekly: But people are going to say, Nick, walk away.
Diaz: He came to my side of the hospital. He came all the way and walked over to me. How am I going to walk away? Walk away? If anything, I was cornered. I came out of a room and he was right there outside of a door. It was a small room, an office type of room. You know those rooms they sit you in that’s got a little thing that lays down with a paper over it?
MMAWeekly: Right.
Diaz: I was in one of those rooms. He didn’t have a room. He was at the other end of the hall with a bunch of curtains and sh#t, way, way, way down. He walked all the way over. He knew better than to come over by me. He knows I’m f#%king nuts. He knows I’m crazy like that.
MMAWeekly: You’re crazy doing that man.
Diaz: I didn’t do it. That’s what I’m saying. You know what I mean? Think about it. I didn’t do sh#t.
Trigg: Nick, do you take medication?
Diaz: No. I don’t take no f#%king medication. Come on man.
Trigg: Seriously. This is you? This is it every day, all day long?
Diaz: No. Check it out. I just got a little amped up because a buddy of mine called me up and said everyone is talking about me on the radio. I don’t call the f#%king radio. I could give a sh#t. I’m just doing my thing and using my free time to do whatever I want to do. I don’t get much free time, but right now I’m hearing a bunch of sh#t. People are talking about me on the radio, so I decided to give you guys a call.
MMAWeekly: We got Joe Riggs account of what happened . . .
Diaz: What’s his name said something about a urinal. I was in the bathroom or whatever. I’ve never been in a bathroom with him. I’ve never been in a bathroom with him. The only other time I was close enough to Joe Riggs is when we were walking through that long hallway at Mandalay Bay. You know that one where they send you to the convention center? You know you’re going to see your fricken opponent walking through that long ass hallway. He gets all nerve wrecked on the way through walking with Tim Sylvia. I’m just walking with my brother. You know what I mean?
MMAWeekly: Right.
Diaz: He starts talking to us, and I’m like, I don’t want to talk to him. The fights are tomorrow. I’d talk to him any other time, so I just keep walking. All I said was, because he had said something to me, so I just said, are you going to make the weight? He said, yea. I said, I’ll see you. He was like, I’ll see you. I’ll see you. He was all talking sh#t all the way down the hall. That’s what started it. I would have never said nothing to him. All I asked was if he was going to make the weight. At the weigh-ins, he comes walking. He always comes walking right over by me. I’m like, dude, don’t even come by me. I’m like, I ain’t going to move. I’m standing in the stairway. He comes walking through the stairway. Of course, I give him a little dirty look.
That probably wasn’t the nicest thing to do. Maybe I shouldn’t have given him a dirty look, but I gave him a dirty look. He goes, what the f#%k are you looking at bitch? I said, f#%k you, you f#%king bitch. Get slapped right here motherf#%ker because he was right there at the weigh-ins. I was like, get slapped right here because he was talking sh#t to me. I was talking sh#t to him. Every since then, I don’t especially like him because we had words I guess. I’m not a f#%king crazy guy. I don’t take medication. I just train hard. I just get pissed off. You know what I mean?
MMAWeekly: Nick, you can’t be throwing down at a hospital.
Diaz: What do you want me to do?
Trigg: Shut the door. There is a door on the room. Shut the door.
Diaz: Yea. Shut the door on him. Right on, Okay, but I was pissed off.
MMAWeekly: Nick, take us through this fight. Obviously we know what happened after the fight, but were you disappointed? Did you think you won the fight?
Diaz: You know something? That’s how I got started fighting too. It wasn’t because I was a wrestler . . . I didn’t start fighting because I was an athletic wrestler. I got lucky to have a little bit of athleticism in me. I started fighting because I got in fights in highschool. I didn’t go very good in highschool. I got into a few fights. I had a girlfriend in highschool, and people would give me sh#t. I would get into fights. At my highschool people were fighting a lot. It was like a thing or something. That’s how I got started.
I wanted to learn how to fight. I figured that everybody would want to learn how to fight, but it seemed like everybody else was stupid to it. I was the only one who wanted to learn how to fight. I started choking people, and that’s what got me started fighting. That is where it comes from. That’s how it started, me fighting. It was a fight, fight. Nothing changes. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even have had words with the guy. Yea, shut the door on him. Right on, but I ain’t no bitch.
MMAWeekly: How did you learn Jiu-Jitsu so well, and so quick?
Diaz: Steve Heath started teaching me Jiu-Jitsu. He noticed that I was there everyday training. I learned a triangle choke, and I started choking big ol’ steroided people that were big and all about working out and thought they could kick everyone’s ass. I would choke them and I was only fifteen. I was choking big ol’ dudes. I would tell all of my friends, and they were like, yea, right. Yea, right. They didn’t pay no attention to me, but I just thought it was cool. I couldn’t believe that I had the capability to do something like that. I didn’t know that it was possible to actually learn how to fight. I thought it was always chance, always the stronger guy. You don’t know. I watched the UFC. I saw Royce Gracie triangle choke someone. When I heard there was something like that close to where I was, I hit it up.
I went right in there and started working out there. It was a gym. I didn’t sign up for the gym and see the classes. I heard about the class, went there, signed up at the gym for the classes they had there. They had like a Shamrock 2000. Steve Heath was training there. After training there for a little while, Steve Heath was about to fight Chuck Liddell, so I started training with him for that fight. I trained more than he did for that fight.
MMAWeekly: Nick, here is the deal. We love the way you fight, but we don’t want to see you kicked out of the UFC. That’s all we are saying.
Diaz: Why would I get kicked out of the UFC for that, though? Why not him? He won. Why didn’t he stay the hell away from me? You guys are telling me to shut the door like I started and all this sh#t, like I’m the big trouble maker. He won the fight. He should be happy. Why is he talking sh#t to me? He’s over here telling me to go back to the f#%king WEC.
MMAWeekly: I hear that. Did you hit him first? Let me ask you that. Even though you were provoked, did you hit him first?
Diaz: Yea. I hit him first, but he was going to hit me. If I had of stood there, he would have hit me.
MMAWeekly: Okay.
Diaz: If I would have stood there in front of him, he would have hit me.
MMAWeekly: In a court of law, they’re probably going to harass you first because you threw the first punch. That’s all we’re saying. We want to see you fight. I don’t want to this stuff going on behind the scenes.
Diaz: It doesn’t go on behind the scenes because all I do is train at the gym. Where is this going to happen behind the scenes? He shouldn’t even have been at the hospital. Come on. He didn’t even have a big enough cut. What the hell was he doing at the hospital? What did he f#%king need, and IV? Are you f#%king kidding me. You know what I mean? I don’t know man. The fact of the matter is, if he didn’t grab the God d#%n fence like a bitch. If he didn’t grab the f#%king fence, he would have went down, got passed, and mounted on. I would have beat his ass, f#%king Arm Barred his ass.
MMAWeekly: So you feel that was the difference in the fight?
Diaz: That’s all there is to it. If he didn’t grab the fence, I would have finished him half way through the third round. That’s what was going to happen. He was on his way down. He grabbed the fence. There is no way he would have closed the guard on me. If he had of, I would have beat through that f#%king thing, passed his guard, mounted him, and beat him. It’s like, what the f#%k?
MMAWeekly: Thank you for giving your side of the story, and we appreciate that.
Diaz: I think they should deduct a round, the whole round from whoever grabs the fence. In Pride they deduct points. They yellow card you. You know what I mean?
MMAWeekly: It’s happened a few different times, from Tim Sylvia last month to this fight.
Diaz: They need to do something about it. And I was never in a bathroom with that guy. I was never in a restroom with Joe Riggs. I was never anywhere or anything like that with him.
MMAWeekly: Thank you for setting the record straight.
Diaz: Right on.
MMAWeekly: Talk to you soon.
Diaz: Take it easy.
