By KOTC Staff
It was going to be Ryan Chiappe’s biggest fight to date; the King of the Cage Canadian Middleweight Champion was set to take on UFC and Strikeforce veteran Joe Riggs, at the promotion’s upcoming November 21st event in Edmonton, Alberta. A win for Chiappe, would not only have been news throughout the MMA world, it would have spoken volumes about the Revolution fighter’s abilities in the cage. Unfortunately for Chiappe, an injury he incurred while training, will prevent him from facing the punishing Arizona fighter for the time being.
“I thought I was fine at first,” said Chiappe, when asked about the injury that took him out of the November 21st main event bout at Rexall Place. “I woke up; I couldn’t really sleep, and I went and got an x-ray later. What it is is that essentially your clavicle and your shoulder should be straight and aligned, but my clavicle is a couple of degrees raised. So it’s basically torn ligaments.”
“Unfortunately I just couldn’t train,” Chiappe added. “I have no right hand at all.”
Injuries that prevent a fighter from competing are always tough, but when they occur shortly before you’re supposed to take on a MMA household name like Riggs, it’s that much more disappointing.
“You know people say they’re disappointed, well, I’m extremely disappointed,” Chiappe said. “If I was to lose my belt I’d be honoured to lose it to a guy like Joe Riggs. Trust me. I said to Ken (Kupsch), ‘hey, I’ll fight him with just my left hand and two legs’. I don’t fight for the same reason as a lot of people; I don’t fight for the money or fame, if I make the UFC that would be great, but that’s not the main reason I started fighting. I do it because I genuinely love to train, I love martial arts, love the people, and I love the way it’s changed me as a person. I guess it all comes with the territory.”
KOTC recently announced that Trent Thorne will step in for the injured Chiappe and will face Riggs for an interim middleweight championship. The winner will face Chiappe sometime in early 2011.
“I think that’s fantastic,” said Chiappe while commenting on the interim title fight. “Trent Thorne is a great guy, I wish him all the best, and I also have huge respect for Joe Riggs. He beat one of my idols in Nick Diaz.”
“For sure,” Chiappe said, when asked if he feels he’ll be able to defend his belt early next year. “I told Ken that I’ll be ready.”
2010 will end with Chiappe having gone 1-1 in competition, as the B.C. fighter stopped Tim Skidmore in May, before losing to current Canadian welterweight champ Garett Davis in July. That bout saw Chiappe move down from 185lbs. to compete at 170, and according to the middleweight champion, a return to welterweight is still possible.
“I’m not the biggest 185-er in the world,” Chiappe noted. “But I want to defend the 185 belt and see what happens after, but to be honest, 170 is probably where I should end up. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.”
