Pedro Rizzo

Mixed martial arts career

Early in his career Rizzo adopted brutal leg kicks from his master trainer Marco Ruas and also from training at the Amsterdam-based Chakuriki gym. Pedro developed a strong stand-up style early on—and used this to great effect throughout his career.

Rizzo is a former World Vale Tudo Championship (WVC) Heavyweight Champion and former contender for the UFC heavyweight belt. Rizzo was almost an unstoppable force in his early UFC run, which culminated in a highly controversial loss at the hands of Randy Couture. The UFC heavyweight title fight between these fighters took place in Atlantic city on 4 May 2001, and Rizzo dominated the pace of the fight and punished Couture with heavy leg kicks; which at the conclusion of the bout left Couture unable to exit the arena without assistance. After the judges read out the scores, even Couture's expression of disbelief assisted the public's reaction of a fight in which Rizzo was clearly robbed. Rizzo then had a chance to rematch Couture but was soundly beaten by Couture in this rematch, and after this fight Rizzo's performances were mixed. Rizzo never seemed to recover from the controversial loss to Couture in that first fight, and this is what is believed to have taken the wind out of Rizzo's sails; as his hunger and drive were never the same as a consequence.

A stint in PRIDE FC did not go too well for the former UFC Heavyweight title contender, and Rizzo suffered quick losses at the hands of Sergei Kharitonov and Roman Zentsov.

Rizzo returned to his winning ways on 9 March 2007, when he beat UFC veteran Justin Eilers by unanimous decision at the début show of Art of War Undisputed Arena Fighting Championship, which was held in Dallas, Texas.

He defeated Jeff Monson on 1 September 2007. This fight took place on the first pay-per-view event promoted by the Art of War Undisputed Arena Fighting Championship organization. Rizzo was defeated at Affliction: Banned by Josh Barnett, via knockout in round 2.

He was defeated by Gilbert Yvel at Ultimate Chaos: Lashley vs. Sapp via knockout in round 1. In his rematch with Jeff Monson, Rizzo won a decision at Bitetti Combat. He revealed in the post-fight interview that he had an elbow problem 10 days before the fight and that was why he could not push for the knockout that "the Brazilian fans deserved".

Rizzo also won his last two fights, against Gary Goodridge at Washington Combat and against eventual UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock at Impact Fighting Championships in Australia.

He was expected to face former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia on 14 August at War on the Mainland but it was discovered that Sylvia broke his foot in his fight with Mariusz Pudzianowski.

Rizzo was expected to be the main event against Tim Sylvia at ProElite 2 in November, However he pulled out of the bout due to an injury.

On 21 June 2012, Rizzo faced former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko, at M-1 Global ring in St. Petersburg, Russia. Rizzo got caught by a right hand from Fedor that knocked him down; Fedor then proceeded with punches that left Rizzo motionless at 1:24 of the first round.

On 26 May 2013, Pedro faced Japanese heavyweight Satoshi Ishii at IGF: GENOME 26. He lost via unanimous decision.

On 12 September 2015, Pedro returned to face Andrew Flores at Face to Face 12. He won via leg kicks, forcing Flores to quit in between rounds, and Rizzo announced his retirement shortly after the fight.

Personal life

Rizzo has a daughter.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • UFC Encyclopedia Awards
    • Fight of the Night (Three times) vs. Tra Telligman, Josh Barnett and Randy Couture 1
    • Knockout of the Night (Two times) vs. Tsuyoshi Kosaka and Andrei Arlovski
• Art of War Undisputed Arena Fighting Championship
  • IFA Heavyweight Championship (1 Time)
• World Vale Tudo Championship
  • WVC Superfight Championship (1 Time)
  • WVC 2 Tournament Winner
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Fight of the Year (2001) vs. Randy Couture on 4 May

Mixed martial arts record

| ko-wins= 15 | ko-losses= 7 | sub-wins= 1 | sub-losses= | dec-wins= 4 | dec-losses= 4 | dq-wins= | dq-losses= | other-wins=

| | Espírito Santo, Brazil | |- | Loss | Satoshi Ishii | Decision (unanimous) | IGF: Genome 26 | | Tokyo, Japan | |- | Loss | Fedor Emelianenko | KO (punches) | M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Rizzo | | St. Petersburg, Russia | |- | Win | Ken Shamrock | TKO (leg kicks and punches) | Impact FC 2 | | Sydney, Australia | |- | Win | Gary Goodridge | TKO (doctor stoppage) | Washington Combat: Battle of the Legends | | Washington D.C. United States | |- | Win | Jeff Monson | Decision (unanimous) | Bitetti Combat MMA 4 | | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |- | Loss | Gilbert Yvel | KO (punches) | Ultimate Chaos: Lashley vs. Sapp | | Biloxi, Mississippi, United States | |- | Loss | Josh Barnett | KO (punch) | Affliction: Banned | | Anaheim, California, United States | |- | Win | Jeff Monson | TKO (punches) | Art of War 3 | | Dallas, Texas, United States

| | Dallas, Texas, United States

| | Saitama, Japan | |- | Loss | Sergei Kharitonov | TKO (soccer kick and punches) | PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005 | | Saitama, Japan | |- | Win | Ricco Rodriguez | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 45 | | Uncasville, Connecticut, United States | |- | Win | Tra Telligman | TKO (doctor stoppage) | UFC 43 | | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |- | Loss | Vladimir Matyushenko | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 41 | | Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States | |- | Loss | Gan McGee | TKO (corner stoppage) | UFC 39 | | Uncasville, Connecticut, United States | |- | Win | Andrei Arlovski | KO (punches) | UFC 36 | | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |- | Loss | Randy Couture | TKO (punches) | UFC 34 | | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

| | Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States

| | Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States | |- | Win | Dan Severn | TKO (submission to leg kicks) | UFC 27 | | New Orleans, Louisiana, United States | |- | Loss | Kevin Randleman | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 26 | | Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States

| | Tokyo, Japan | |- | Win | Tra Telligman | KO (punch) | UFC 20 | | Birmingham, Alabama, United States | |- | Win | Mark Coleman | Decision (split) | UFC 18 | | Kenner, Louisiana, United States | |- | Win | Tank Abbott | KO (punch) | UFC Brazil | | Sao Paulo, Brazil | |- | Win | Richard Heard | TKO (submission to punches) | World Vale Tudo Championship 3 | | Brazil | |- | Win | Vernon White | KO (soccer kick) | World Vale Tudo Championship 2 | | Brazil | |- | Win | Michael Tielrooy | Submission (keylock) | World Vale Tudo Championship 2 | | Brazil | |- | Win | Nicholas Hill (as Niccolaus) | TKO (submission to punches) | World Vale Tudo Championship 2 | | Brazil | |- | Win | Eric Labaille | TKO (punches) | IMA: Battle of Styles | | Netherlands |

Kickboxing record (incomplete)

|- |- bgcolor="#ffbbbb" | |SUR Lloyd van Dams |Nikko T. Press Productions: Battle of the Best |NED 's-Hertogenbosch, North Brabant

| |NED Rob van Esdonk |Nikko T. Press Productions: Battle of the Best |NED 's-Hertogenbosch, North Brabant

| |NED Orlando Breienburg |Nikko T. Press Productions: Battle of the Best |NED 's-Hertogenbosch, North Brabant

| |ENG Michael Thompson |K-1 Hercules '95 |JPN Nagoya, Aichi

References

References

1. "Tim Sylvia broke his foot and will not face Rizzo".
2. Palmquist, Chris. (29 September 2011). "Sylvia/Rizzo, Arlovski/Fulton headline ProElite 2 in Nov".
3. "Injured Rizzo Withdraws from Nov. 5 ProElite Bout Against Sylvia".
4. (10 September 2015). "Pedro Rizzo gets new opponent for upcoming fight in Brazil". mmafighting.com.
5. (13 September 2015). "41-year-old UFC vet Pedro Rizzo wins in Brazil, announces retirement". mmafighting.com.
6. (14 July 2008). "Pedro Rizzo interview: MMA Sport interview exclusive with Pedro Rizzo". MMASportsmag.com, by Ed Preuss.
7. Gerbasi, Thomas. (2011-10-17). "UFC Encyclopedia - The Definitive Guide to the Ultimate Fighting Championship". DK.
8. Gerbasi, Thomas. (2011-10-17). "UFC Encyclopedia - The Definitive Guide to the Ultimate Fighting Championship". DK.
9. Gerbasi, Thomas. (2011-10-17). "UFC Encyclopedia - The Definitive Guide to the Ultimate Fighting Championship". DK.
10. Gerbasi, Thomas. (2011-10-17). "UFC Encyclopedia - The Definitive Guide to the Ultimate Fighting Championship". DK.
11. Gerbasi, Thomas. (2011-10-17). "UFC Encyclopedia - The Definitive Guide to the Ultimate Fighting Championship". DK.
12. (2 September 2007). "– RIZZO KO'S THE SNOWMAN AT ART OF WAR | MMAWeekly.com". Mmaweekly.com | Ufc and Mma News, Results, Rumors, and Videos.
13. (15 August 2007). "– MONSON READY FOR TWO FIGHTS IN TWO WEEKS | MMAWeekly.com". Mmaweekly.com | Ufc and Mma News, Results, Rumors, and Videos.
14. Sherdog.com. "Pedro".