Kiwi lightweight Brad Riddell takes on Rafael Fiziev in a high-stakes UFC co-main event in Las Vegas this Sunday (Saturday in the US).
Both men are looking to stake a claim as one of the division’s best strikers in what is expected to be a must-watch clash, but long before Riddell was climbing the ranks in the UFC, he was an inexperienced kickboxer involved in one of combat sport’s most bizarre viral moments.
Riddell fought China’s Yi Long for the first time exactly 10 years ago.
With a minute to go in a close fight, Yi stunned fans - and Riddell - when he dropped his hands and allowed the 20-year-old to land seven unanswered punches before firing back some of his own.
A phenomenal display of chin and craziness in equal measure.
Riddell spoke to Sporting News about the moment which has now been viewed around the world.
“I don’t remember too much about it. I remember getting pretty frustrated that he was doing that but at the time I was still very inexperienced to fighting so I don’t remember much of the fight,” Riddell said.
“It was still a bit of a blur back then. I think I was supposed to fight another guy and then my friend got injured and couldn’t fight so I got put in against Yi Long.”
Riddell said if he had his time over he might have approached it differently.
“He kind of like tucked his chin down and clenched his jaw and I was sort of punching him a fair bit in the forehead which is a pretty thick bit of skull and if you brace up for a punch it’s relatively more easy to take it,” he said.
“He obviously had a good chin back then, since then I think he got knocked out a few times. I should have just kicked him in the head.”
For the record, Riddell claimed a decision win.
As for the present day, Riddell knows pretty much what to expect from Fiziev this weekend, having sparred against him while training against each other in Thailand.
“He’s pretty good at racking up points because he’s quite active with his low kicks when he fights, good at slipping punches,” Riddell said.
“Even if it ends up in a bit of a fire fight you just have to try and consciously keep it in your head and make sure you’re tallying your points up and staying ahead of him. He’s a very tricky guy to fight.”
Riddell, who has won all four of his UFC fights, has only had one bout since September 2020 and is keen to make up for lost time next year.
“2022 I’d like to be a little more active, regardless of the result on the weekend,” he said.
“This past couple of years has been a bit slow because of COVID. The fact that New Zealand is opening back up in February, I should be able to put my head down and start running in the company and hopefully make my way up these rankings as quickly as I intended to at the beginning. Hopefully everybody else is as game as I am.
And there’s some potentially mouth-watering fights on his radar: “Any of them I’d like to fight, they’re all super skilled but an exciting one off the bat would be Gaethje or Chandler, they’d be some pretty interesting guys to have a scrap with, stylistically wise.”
