The Pedro Rizzo appreciation thread

huge heart and heavy hands. a true warrior

 

:yep

A nice surgical striker with a lot of finish in him - even when not prime. A hell of a competitor who fought too long. Props Pedro!

 

I've looked all over for footage of the Couture and Rizzo fights, but so far the most I've found is this highlight someone made. It shows a fair amount of both their fights, but there is no commentary.

http://www.mmaforreal.com/2010/3/15/1373479/my-highlight-of-randy-couture-vs

You can also see some differences between then and now, in terms of technique. There wasn't as much wall walking back then, and I noticed Randy forces Rizzo to the wall after taking him down at one point. Today you see people trying to keep their opponent from getting to the cage. I have a friend, he is a bjj instructor, that told me Liddell is one of the first to use the cage to get back to his feet. Supposedly, Chuck had enough confidence in his chin that he would risk eating a shot or two to get back to his feet. My friend said he would like to see more people try to take advantage of that opening to hit the person in the face as he is trying to stand against the cage. He argues that once these fighters get to a certain position, they almost always get back to standing. Why not get a shot in, instead of holding on in vain?

 

It is mostly the first fight. I wish it would show the entire fight, but it does show the first 2 rounds in almost entirety and portions of all 5.

 

Does this work?

http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/xcd0jt

 

I don't know if there were any forums back then, and although PRIDE was going on then, I didn't start following the PRIDE shows until the summer of 2002.

So in my mind at the time, these were the best 2 heavyweights in the world. I would not have known Nogueira at that time. I don't even know if Nogueira would have beaten Coleman, or any one that I knew of, when this fight took place. I'll have to look at his record to see.

 

Oh well, I tried.

 

I wouldn't have know who Herring, Vovchanchyn, or Nogueria was when Rizzo fought Couture.

Rizzo had beaten Coleman and Barnett. Couture had defeated Mo, who had defeated Coleman. Couture had also defeated Randleman. I would have thought these guys were the best around back then.

 

That would have been a treat.