Rinaldi was born in Olean, New York, New York, United States, His family moved to Charlotte, North Carolina where Rinaldi grew up with his two older brothers and three stepsisters. Even though he played baseball and football at the young age, as a late bloomer with only 93 lbs body weight frame, he followed his brother and started wrestling training when he started his freshman year in high school. Rinaldi attended University of North Carolina at Charlotte after his high school and working at the car wash station part-time. His coworker at the car wash who was a BJJ practitioner introduced him to BJJ, and since then he has transitioned from wrestling to MMA.
Rinaldi fought in a number of promotions including World Series of Fighting and Resurrection Fighting Alliance during his early MMA career. He picked up eight stoppages in 12 professional career wins since his 2010 debut, noticeably held wins over former UFC veterans Dennis Bermudez, Diego Saraiva and Clay Harvison. He held a 5 fight winning streak prior to signing with the UFC. Rinaldi competed for the featherweight title for Resurrection Fighting Alliance in 2012 and lost the fight to Jared Downing. He was the former Welterweight champion for Complete Devastation promotion where he submitted Tenyeh Dixon who missed the welterweight upper limit of 22 ibs on that fight.
Rinaldi was one of the contestants for the UFC TV MMA fighting competition, also known as in 2012. He faced Joe Proctor during the entry round and lost the fight via submission on round 1 and failed to accepted to the TUF house.
Rinaldi made his promotional debut as a short notice replacement, filling in for Carlos Diego Ferreira who was pulled out from the fight due to a potential USADA violation, against Abel Trujillo on May 29, 2017 at. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Rinaldi next faced Álvaro Herrera on August 5, 2017 at. He won this fight via submission in round one. The submission victory was Rinaldi's first in the UFC. He is also the fourth fighter in UFC history to have defeated an opponent with a Von Flue Choke submission. Rinaldi faced Gregor Gillespie on January 27, 2018 at. He lost the fight via TKO in the first round. Rinaldi faced Jason Knight on November 3, 2018 at UFC 230. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Rinaldi faced Arnold Allen on March 16, 2019 at UFC Fight Night 147. He lost the fight by unanimous decision. On May 16, 2019 it was reported that Rinaldi was released by UFC.
