Joe Riggs feared he had severely injured neck prior to UFC on FOX 13 tap

Joe Riggs

PHOENIX – In a backstage interview with FOX Sports, UFC welterweight Joe Riggs said he feared a severe injury after attempting to slam Ben Saunders to the mat in their preliminary bout at UFC on FOX 13.

“When I picked him up, I wanted to spike him,” Riggs said shortly after the FOX Sports 1-televised fight at Phoenix’s U.S. Airways Arena. “When you try to spike someone, your head is going to be at the point of the spike, and my neck, something got caught weird, because my left arm went numb. I gave it a couple of seconds to see if it came back, but it didn’t come back.

“So I just tapped out, because I thought I’d blew out my disc in my neck. But then it started to come back, so I don’t know.”

Riggs (40-15 MMA, 5-4 UFC), a Phoenix native who overcame a horrible accident prior to tonight’s event, submitted at the 0:57 mark of the first round, tapping as Saunders (18-6-2 MMA, 6-3 UFC) attempted an omaplata shoulder lock.

It was Riggs’ first UFC fight since 2006, when the promotion released him after a knockout loss to Diego Sanchez. Riggs was scheduled in 2005 to fight for the welterweight title but failed to make weight as a short-notice replacement against then-champ Matt Hughes.

Saunders returned to the octagon after a four-year absence and substantial stint in Bellator.

Riggs said he’d previously never experienced anything like the numbing he experienced when he hit the canvas. In the moments before the bizarre stoppage, he traded punches and kicks with Saunders and appeared on his way to a takedown.

“But it’s things like that,” Riggs said. “He’s a great fighter, but I know I can beat him. But it just sucks for both of us that I wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do.

“In football, but not with my neck (and) shoulder. I had a stinger before, but this is worse than a stinger. It would be hindered, but it would come back. But it was my neck. It was way worse than what I ever had.”

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