Las Vegas, NV – For UFC lightweight Brad Riddell the name of the game is to fight regardless of ranking. He gets an up-and-comer in Jalin Turner at UFC 276 on Saturday night.
Riddell (10-2) is coming off a knockout loss to Rafael Fiziev last December.
“I was obviously gutted. I was really enjoying that fight and I think everybody else was enjoying that fight as well. Unfortunately I just made a mistake against one of the best guys in the world, and I paid for it. So I learned to listen,” Riddell told Cageside Press among other media on Wednesday.
Riddell is coming off a 7-month layoff which wasn’t something the City Kickboxing product wanted to do.
“I definitely didn’t want 7 months away. That was a while. I was trying to fight after about 3 to 4, but there’s only 15 guys in the rankings. When you’re #14 the guys in the front of the pack obviously are out of the question. So you get pretty limited about who you can fight,” Riddell said.
“That’s why it was taking a while.”
In comes Turner (12-5) riding a 4-fight win streak, but without a number next to his name.
“If no one’s available who’s ranked I’ll fight anybody. I want to fight. I’m a fighter’s fighter. They sent me Jalin Turner’s name. I said cool. I signed it, no stress. He’s doing really well. He’s had some good wins, a couple good stoppages. I’m a different caliber of fighter. I believe I’m well above the skill level of him,” Riddell said.
“This is going to be a very, very hard test for him.”
Riddell knows that Turner is talented, but feels that the young lightweight will learn a hard lesson come Saturday night.
“I’m going to go out there and show what I’m made of. I just think I’m on another level, and being in the rankings is hard. He’s more than welcome to come and try, but it’s not going to happen this week,” said Riddell.
City Kickboxing is well represented at UFC 276 with Riddell fighting on the prelims and teammates Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski defending their titles on the main card. It’s made for a more enjoyable training camp for Riddell.
“It’s great. The best thing about it is that people can travel again from our country so we have like a massive group here. It’s nice to have that. Feels a bit more homey. Before this it was like…it made it a bit more work oriented. It was just a job, a job, each fight during COVID,” Riddell said.
“But now it’s like an experience again having everybody here. Having the hype. We’re all in camp together it definitely propels you along. It’s a lot more enjoyable man. It’s good.”
Watch the full UFC 276 media day appearance by Brad Riddell above. Riddell faces Jalin Turner on the prelims portion of the card. The event takes place this Saturday, July 2, 2022 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV.
