The Pav Says… Back Injury is the Latest Battle for Joe Riggs

Originally Posted by Ken Pavia on MMAJunkie.com on February 27, 2008 at 10:53 am ET
By Ken Pavia/MMAAgents.com

Fights are not won in the gym, but often that is where legends grow.

Pound for pound, my most gifted fighter in the gym may be Joe “Diesel” Riggs. You hear how fighters train, live and play hard, but such is not the case with Joe. He thrives on training and discipline. It is not uncommon for him to go to bed at 8 p.m. or so and get up at 4 a.m. for five miles of road work to begin his day. Give him mad props; this kid was once a 300-lb. heavyweight and later fought for the UFC’s 170-lb. belt.

He has nearly 40 pro fights and is only 25 years old! Diesel has all the potential, so much God-given ability — but terrible luck, and he is very emotional.

My relationship with Joe is odd. We literally love and dislike each other, but there has always been an underlying level of mutual respect. In one of our down periods, I remember he did a radio interview and said, “‘The Pav’ has a huge ego, only takes every other one of my calls (note: he calls at 5 a.m.), loves his MySpace (myspace.com/kenpavia), and is annoying.” The interviewer said, “So I guess it is safe to say you are not with him anymore.” He responded, “No, he is my agent; I would never leave him. He is the best in the business by far.“

Joe would know. He had three other agents in the two years prior to signing with me about 18 months ago. On another occasion, Joe didn’t respond to my calls for almost two weeks. I saw him at a fight and walked up to him and said, “What gives?” He said, “I heard you have been bad-mouthing me. I heard you said I was a whack job.” I said, “Joe, newsflash, you are a whack job!” He laughed, and we hugged it out.

Ultimately, when he needs something, including just someone to talk to, I am always there for him. If he needs to get away, he flies into Huntington Beach, Calif., and stays at my house. When he needs a favor from the promoter or something handled for the commission, I am his guy. Much like an old married couple, Joe and I have gotten close. What many people don’t know is that Diesel has a great sense of humor. In style it is sincere — and the kind that you think back on and you laugh harder the second time.

So Joe had his dream team with him for the “Strikeforce at the Dome” fights. Longtime trainer Billy “The Mad Scientist” Rush was back. Billy has such a calming presence, and it is so effective with Joe — paternal, really. Jeremy Horn was with him to bring the element of experience. His brother, Andy, was there to keep him sane. And I was there to keep everyone in his corner sane. We were all in the restaurant the night before weigh-ins getting a bite and telling stories. Knowing his gym prowess, I asked Joe who had made him tap in practice in the last year. He said that Jeremy had regularly. Rich Franklin caught him once. Then he thought for a moment, and I saw him get upset. He turned to Billy and Jeremy and said, “And f***ing Nick!” They tried but couldn’t contain their laughter.

I bit. “Who is Nick?” I asked. Joe said he is a son of a bitch who is 200 lbs. of super-human upper-body strength and walks on his hands because he has no legs, literally. Joe then went on to say that the first time Pat Miletich said to roll with him he thought it was a joke. Diesel playfully obliged and got into his guard. Nick proceeded to clap his stubs, which end mid-thigh, into Joe’s jugular vein and twist his arm off. He said his neck was sore for two weeks as a result. Joe said he got pissed and cursed at him. He said, “Let’s go again.” This time Nick grabbed him in a leg lock and was so strong that Joe was forced to tap again. But Nick, who apparently didn’t like to be cursed at, said “not yet Joe” and torqued it further. That kind of stuff doesn’t go ever well among fighters.



Now, Joe was really heated and demanded to try again. Well, he lasted a little longer — like a minute — before it was tap No. 3.

The worst part he says was Nick copped an attitude. Joe asked how long he had been doing this, and Nick smugly shot back, “It is my first day.“

Diesel was so upset that he stormed off to the locker room and showered up. In came Nick walking on his hands and Joe, in an act of retribution, proceeded to pee on the shower floor. Nick said, “Hey do you mind?” Joe hit him with “What? Are you going to tap me again?“

So, Joe is always fighting something in his career: weight, lack of camp, back injury requiring surgery, the unfortunate death of child, a car accident as a passenger on the way to weigh-ins, addiction to painkillers, etc.

In Saturday’s Strikeforce fight, everything was perfect in preparation: his team, his health, and most important, his mind. He entered nearly a 4-to-1 betting favorite. Well, about 20 seconds into the fight, his opponent, Cory Devela, threw a kick. Joe reached to grab his leg, and I saw him wince in pain. My initial reaction was that it caught his liver — a la De la Hoya vs. Hopkins. He continued to grimace as they clinched on the fence. His opponent moved for a judo throw, and I saw what I thought was Joe tapping as he was being thrown. Once on the ground, he was completely done. A disc in his back had dislodged and impinged on a nerve that ran down his leg.

Joe was carried from the ring on a stretcher. The doctors said the pain was analogous to the breaking of a hip as he pumped him full of morphine. They had to call a special ambulance because of the type of painkillers they administered. Everyone was teary as we waited for the ambulance to get there. Joe turned to the doctor in all seriousness and said, “Doc, when they change me, just know that things are the way they are down there because my metal cup is really cold.“

Needless to say, it broke the tension.

Joe had a scope procedure done Tuesday to deaden the nerve, and his time table for a return is up in the air. As soon as it was completed, he called me from the doctor’s office and demanded the rematch.

“Do not let that kid fight anyone else before me and get exposed,” he said. “I am going to smash him.“

If you bump into Diesel at an event, show him some support. While many fighters are immune to the compliments because they come so frequently, others will acknowledge with appreciation. Whether or not Joe manifests with a reaction, he is really affected by it and takes it to heart. It means a lot to this kid, and he is due for a break.