Fightline.com: You were initially scheduled to fight Jake Shields, and you weren’t too happy with him taking the fight with Robbie Lawler. What are your thoughts on Shields today, and who are you pulling for in that fight?

Joe Riggs: Yeah, it pisses me off! We’re all fighters, and when you get told to fight someone, you fight them. A guy who sits back and chooses opponents who are going to make him look his best stylistically, what’s going to look the best for him, I’ve never done that in my career. He chose Robbie, and I don’t want to hear any excuses on why he won’t win this fight. He’s going to get his ass kicked by Robbie Lawler, that’s for sure!

Fightline.com: A lot of people have challenges pertaining to the use of drugs. You overcame that, so what would you say to people that may be experiencing that same challenge themselves?

Joe Riggs: The main thing is, in this sport, injury goes along with it. It goes hand and hand with the sport. People have to be careful about abusing substance. I’ve never been a drinker, but got on pain killers, because this sport brings a lot of pain. You just have to be careful, and pace yourself, and have doctors closely monitoring your prescriptions. Especially in this sport because you're on TV and stuff. People are a lot nicer to you than they are with normal people. The doctors may be more lenient with prescriptions.

Fightline.com: Who do you feel are the top welterweights in the world right now?

Joe Riggs: I think there’s so many man, I mean right now the number one guy obviously is GSP. He’s the one everyone’s gunning for. Other than that, there’s guys [ranked] 2?20 who are all right in the same pack. It’s such a deep deep wealth of talent in this weight class, its hard to say.

Fightline.com: The StrikeForce roster is more stacked than ever after they purchased the contracts from EliteXC. Who else would you like to fight in the immediate future?

Joe Riggs: After I beat Phil Baroni, it's very important to me that I fight Jake Shields. That’s the number one fight that I want. It’s very important to me. After I beat Phil, I have to fight Jake Shields.