(Riggs shows off his green "Diesel" tattoo, otherwise known as the call for eco-friendly transportation solutions that was a little ahead of its time.)

When Strikeforce decided to call off a bout between Jake Shields and Joe Riggs in favor of matching Shields up with Robbie Lawler, we were pretty pleased with the change.  Joe Riggs is not.  Not only does he seem to feel that he’s missing out on an opportunity to “expose” Shields and get himself back in the top ten, he tells Ariel Helwani at Versus.com that he’s also being straight-up dissed by Shields, and he is maaaaad.  As in, like, Dana White when you ask him about Affliction mad.  Check it:

“(Expletive) Jake Shields’ (expletive) (expletive),” Riggs said. “I have done enough in this sport to be (expletive) treated with a certain amount of respect, and to talk about me like I am a (expletive) Pat Smith or Tank Abbott…For one, I am like six years younger than that punk (expletive) (expletive). So, (expletive) him. People forget that I am (expletive) 25 [Ed. note: Really?  Just 25?  He’s right, I totally did forget that.  Is he sure he's not at least 32?]. (Expletive) that guy. I would really, really fight Jake Shields for free just to shut his mouth up.”

[...]

“I had been trying to get that fight with Shields for probably three years. I have been trying to chase him down, and I am sure he had something to do with it; I am sure that guy didn’t want to fight me because I am pretty much the same exact fighter as Robbie Lawler. But if he loses to Lawler, who is ranked third in the world at 185, it’s out of his weight class so he doesn’t care. With me, he doesn’t have an excuse.”

“(Expletive) him,” a fired up Riggs said. “I will (expletive) him up. I beat his teammate Nick Diaz’s ass, and I will beat his ass too. I mean, that is a very disrespectful thing to say. I have beaten a lot of tough guys in the world. I have had my fair share of losses, as well; I have had my ups and downs. But look who I have fought; I have fought nothing but top guys.

“In the UFC, I fought nothing but the best. And that guy just says that because I am a bad matchup for him. I am just as good a wrestler as he is; I don’t think he would be able to take me down. And on the feet, he is a girl. His girlfriend or wife probably slaps him around standing up [Ed note: Oh snap!]. He is a (expletive) joke. That guy thinks he is way, way better than he is. Everybody wants to fight him because the first person to expose him is going to look like the man.”

Instead of Shields, Riggs is now getting a match-up with Baroni, which is about as exciting to Riggs as the Riggs/Shields match-up was to Shields.  And yet Riggs doesn’t seem to see the parallels in the two situations.  How sad.