NXT Superstar Matt Riddle Opens Up About His "Brutal" UFC Firing And Relationship With Dana White
Matt Riddle's firing from UFC and tumultuous relationship with owner Dana White has been well documented, and the current NXT Superstar has now opened up about what exactly led to the bad blood between them.
Matt Riddle is currently making waves in NXT as one of the brand's most recent signings, but at one point he was also a rising star in The UFC... until he was fired, that is.
The "King of Bros" has discussed the situation in the past, but while appearing on Edge and Christian's Podcast of Awesomeness, he went into more detail about what his relationship with Dana White had been like prior to his release, and what ultimately led to the bad blood between them.
“Up until him ripping me apart on FOX Sports and being really mean, it was pleasant working with White. Like, it seemed like a really nice work relationship. Everybody in the office seemed to like me. I think before my firing they were upset because, at the time when I was in UFC, they would allow fighters to use a lot of prescribed drugs as long as they had a doctor’s note. I was prescribed medical marijuana and they didn’t agree with it because it wasn’t federally legal.
But they were letting a lot of fighters use prescribed testosterone and prescribed other things. And I was like, ‘well, you’re letting fighters use performance-enhancing drugs and I don’t think that’s appropriate.’ And they didn’t want me talking about that. So that was probably, like, the only back and forth that we had that was negative. Other than that, me and Dana had a great relationship.”
None of that should be too surprising to anyone that's been following UFC over the past few years, as White has frequently shown himself to be a hypocrite in various different situations in the past.
At any rate, Riddle now has a very good chance to rise to the top of the black and gold brand, and is currently undefeated.