Jeremiah Riggs Felt He Had a Bull's-Eye on Him in Tough Enough/FCW Due to MMA

It's hard to go from MMA to pro wrestling, but to go back to MMA is a testament to good athlete.

Jeremiah Riggs originally started in MMA, competing in Bellator and Strikeforce, but he ended up getting an offer to try out on WWE Tough Enough to compete for a WWE contract. Riggs finished third and went to the WWE developmental territory FCW in Florida, where he cut a controversial promo that ended up with him not being in the WWE.

Riggs had some talks with TNA, but those talks didn't go anywhere. Riggs thought, why not go back to MMA?

Riggs returns to MMA this Friday night at Bellator 61 to face Trey Houston on the preliminary portion of the card, which airs on Spike.com. Here's an excerpt of an interview done with Riggs, as he feels he had a bull's-eye on him during his WWE days, thanks to his MMA background.

"

"I think I had a bull's-eye on me from the word go," Riggs explained. "I really do. I never got it.  I laugh about it because I don't know s--t about this. What's the big beef between wrestlers and MMA?

"Hell, when did all of that start? Are people mad because a professional athlete like Brock Lesnar was? He was good at what he did in wrestling. Everybody thought that would be a fluke when he came over to MMA.

"Guess what, he put his foot in everybody's mouth and up their ass and he became the UFC Heavyweight Champion and is still well known today. He can go do either-or.

"I myself, I may have never worn no gold around my waist, but in my mind mentally, physically and everything I've proven. I come over to an MMA world only from an opportunity to come over into the wrestling world, and I kicked ass in it.

"

"

"I really believe I did more than what was expected. I believe I blew the USA people away. I believe I blew Bill (Demott) away. I believe I blew Stone Cold away. I believe I blew away everybody's expectations, like this guy is not gonna make it past the week. He's gonna be unorthodox.

"Let me remind you, I'm a professional athlete. I pride myself. There's a lot of athletes out there, but I'm a professional athlete.

"I think that some people think I'm not that kind of person that judges you if you were a baseball player. I don't give a damn if you did ballet. You come into my sport and you're good at it, I'm gonna give you props. I think the attitude towards people at FCW were, 'Oh well, I'm wrestler, you think your coming over into my world?'

"Well buddy, it's not that I did or I did not come into your world. I came into your world and I'm kicking your ass in your world and there's nothing you can do about it.

"But I did not take it in with that attitude. I shook hands, I was very open to criticism. I was very open to positive and negative situations because I was there to learn. I didn't give a damn if someone liked me or disliked me. That's on their personal level.

"But I didn't anything personally because it's a business. Yea, I think I did have a bull's-eye on me right from the gate. A lot of people either liked it or disliked it. I think I overshadowed a lot of people there and it made them uncomfortable in their own world."

"

During the interview, Riggs also talked about his return to MMA, if he's had talks with Zuffa, how Steve Austin was and still is a big influence on him and more. You can check it out by clicking here.