Before I tell you all about how Joe Riggs is fighting a guy who’s 0-1 this weekend, I just want to be clear that he has not been cut from Strikeforce. In fact, Strikeforce offered Diesel a fight in October, but he didn’t want to wait that long to bang again. Instead, he accepted a fight in Canada at King of the Cage to stay active. Considering how open-ended contracts in Strikeforce seem to allow for fighters to compete outside of their organization, this seems like a good way for fighters like Riggs to earn a bit more money while working their way up the rankings. Assuming he wins the fight and doesn’t sustain any significant damage, he should be ready to compete again inside of sixty days and the gamble pays off. The trick is to find a challenger who’s a lot less experienced and needs the money as badly as Joe Riggs.
Now I’ll tell you all about Michael Khardas; Riggs’ opponent who’s 0-1. His last fight was against Brian Coldwell (2-2) on October 10th of last year at Extreme Fighting Challenge 8 in Vernon, British Columbia. It was a fight he lost by TKO (via punches) 3:43 seconds into the first round. Prior to the only fight in his professional career He earned a brown belt alongside Carlos Newton in Ranger jiu-jitsu and apparently competed in ADCC according to the UG. Somewhere along the way, he was dubbed the ‘Samurai Kardashian‘ and by a strange twist of fate, his second pro-fight will be against UFC, WEC, and Stikeforce veteran with forty-five professional fights in Joe Riggs — and that’s all we know about Michael Khardas.
While Joe Riggs had twists and turns throughout his career, he’s 4-1 in his last five fights, and has been doing this for a decade longer than Samurai Kardashian. When asked about why he decided to take this fight, here’s what he said:
“I’m just trying to put together another win streak you know,”
“I just want to put together a big streak as the bigger winning streak you get going the more money you make. It always looks better. And to be perfectly honest with you I just want to fight.”
“I hope to knock him out; give the fans something to cheer about.”
“I don’t think a guy like this is going to pose me a problem; it doesn’t matter what he does. I’ve gotten to where I am because I’ve beaten the fighters that I have.”
“I’m really well rounded, so I’m not worried about it.”
We applaud Joe Riggs’ ambition, even if it’s at the expense of The Samurai Kardashian, who has exactly the same amount of ring experience as Kim Kardashian, except Kim somehow managed to last longer and take her fight to a decision. That being said, we hope the promoters and the sanctioning body saw something along the lines of a decorated grappling career to justify an experience disparity like this, not just an opportunity for everyone in Canada to meet Khardassians for the $15 price of admission. [Source]
