Pedro Augusto Rizzo (born May 3, 1974) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and Muay Thai fighter. He has a professional MMA record of 19–9–0 as of July 17, 2010 and holds notable victories over former UFC Champions Mark Coleman, Dan Severn, Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Ricco Rodriguez and Ken Shamrock.
Pedro Rizoo’s Mixed martial arts fighting style
Trained by Marco Ruas, Rizzo adopted Ruas’ brutal leg kicks and developed his strong stand up fighting style, which he used with great effect in the cage. Rizzo striking was always feared in MMA.
Pedro Rizzo’s fighting career in the UFC
Pedro Rizoo came to the UFC with a perfect 6:0 record fighting 13 fights within the organization going 8:5 during his UFC Contract. His first fight was at UFC 18, his last at UFC 48. During his stint in the UFC he managed to win his first four fights, ending his winning streak against Kevin Randleman at UFC 23 via K.O. loss. His wins in the UFC were over Ricco Rodriguez, Tra Telligman (twice), Andrei Arlovski, Josh Barnett, Dan Severn, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, Mark Coleman. His losses in the UFC came at the hands of: Kevin Randleman, Vladimir Matyushenko, Gan McGee and Randy Couture (twice).
Pedro Rizzo’s fighting career after the UFC
Rizzo is a former WVC heavyweight champion and a former contender for the UFC heavyweight belt. His stint in the now defunct PRIDE FC did not go too well for the former UFC Heavyweight title contender, and accounts for losses at the hands of Sergei Kharitonov and Roman Zentsov. Rizzo returned to his winning ways on the March 9, 2007, when he beat UFC veteran Justin Eilers by unanimous decision at the début show of Art of War Undisputed Arena Fighting Championships, which was held in Dallas, Texas. He went on to defeat Jeff Monson on September 1, 2007. This fight took place on the first pay-per-view event promoted by the Art of War organization. Rizzo was defeated at Affliction: Banned by Josh Barnett, via knockout in round 2.
Most notable fights in Pedro Rizzo’s career
His first title challenge in the UFC was against all american wrestler Randy Couture at UFC 31. This was the first UFC event under the Zuffa management, with Dana White as the new president. In one of the best and most brutal fights in MMA history, both fighters inflicted a lot of damage on each other leaving everything in the cage. After five hard fought 5-minute rounds, Couture was declared the winner by unanimous decision, which generated a lot of controversy as many fight fans felt Rizzo won the fight. This resulted in an immediate rematch between the two at UFC 34, in November 2001, where Rizzo’s style was no match to Randy Coutures measured approach.
