The Mountain Man

For a guy that has only been fighting professionally for a year and half, Jessie Riggleman (8-0) is on the fast track in MMA. He is WEC bound after beating Bryan Goldsby in the last Respect is Earned card in Virginia. Unfortunately, his win was surrounded in controversy. In the first round of the fight, Riggleman was using knees in the clinch effectively while Goldsby was landing clean shots on the feet. Ultimately, Riggleman ended up on top winning the round. The remaining rounds were back and forth but Riggleman was the clear winner in a 29-28 decision. Unfortunately, the judges screwed it up and declared Goldsby as the winner by split decision. Riggleman then left the cage in shock. Right before the next fight started, they brought both men back out and announced that it was a unanimous draw, again to the ire of Riggleman. Finally, Riggleman got back into the cage after it was discovered one judge had his name on the wrong side of the card, which gave Goldsby the round. Instead of focusing on what was a great win against a Goldsby, who was been hailed by Shonie Carter (who was doing play by play) as the next great WEC prospect, Riggleman has to deal with questions not about his fight career, but about how badly the judges screwed up that night.

Regardless, Riggleman is moving on and focusing on the next phase in his career: a possible drop to flyweight. The WEC has plans to adopt the division in early 2011. Riggleman says he feels “much bigger than other flyweight fighters” but he also has no problem fighting at bantamweight as he did against Goldsby. At either weight, he is looking to use the Muay Thai clinch to get the win. “It’s very important in my game. If I can put the guy against the cage and control him with ties, I can wear him out faster.”

Riggleman’s rise in the sport has been fast but with an undefeated record and a progressive camp in the MMA Institute, he will either be fighting for the title in the local promotion, UWC or in the WEC by the end of the year.


Riggleman would like to give a big thanks to my sponsor Kimura wear and to all my training partners and trainers at the best school in Virginia, MMA Institute! Check them out at http://www.Kimurawear.com and http://www.MMAinstitute.com