UFC 143 Results: Matt Riddle Salvages Floundering UFC Career with Solid Win

After a solid stint on The Ultimate Fighter, welterweight Matt Riddle entered UFC with a lot of promise. He rattled off three wins to start his career, but he had struggled as of late, dropping two straight decisions. He got back on track on Saturday, though, with a win over Henry Martinez.

Riddle was initially supposed to face Jorge Lopez, but he was forced from the fight due to injury. This made Martinez, who was making his UFC debut, a late replacement. While some may say that Martinez was at a disadvantage, Riddle was as well because he had to switch up the way he was training.

Perhaps it wasn't the most convincing win for Riddle as he won by split decision, but he needed a victory any way he could possibly get it. Things weren't looking great early for Riddle, but he eventually unleashed a hellacious barrage of punches and gained the upper hand in the fight.

At 26 years of age Riddle has plenty of potential, but he simply isn't consistent enough. That was again the case against Martinez, but because of his talent he was able to make up for his struggles by outworking Martinez late in the fight.

Riddle was coming off two straight fights in which he was beaten decisively, so another loss would have put him in dire straits. Because of his status as a member of The Ultimate Fighter cast he probably would have continued to get UFC matches, but they would have been of very little consequence.

This win at least buys Riddle a bit more time in terms of being relevant. The fact of the matter is, however, that he needs to figure some things out. Maybe beating Martinez will be big for him in the long run as he really had to gut it out and it obviously wasn't easy for him to switch his preparation.

Riddle needed a spark with a positive performance, and while it wasn't always pretty, he got the job done. The key for Riddle now will be to keep his momentum going like he did earlier in his career. If he can do that, then he has a chance to be a player.