Last Saturday, Pedro Rizzo triumphantly returned from this 27 month-long hiatus by winning in his own country and retiring from MMA in one fell swoop. His victory over Andrew Flores at Face to Face 12 capped off a career which promised and disappointed in equal measure.
The 41-year-old Brazilian stormed onto the MMA scene in the mid-to-late ’90s with an impressive submission game complimented with some devastating striking—and became famous for his fearsome leg kicks honed in Holland’s Chakuriki kickboxing gym.
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“The Rock” was ahead of his time in utilizing leg kicks as a tool to damage his opponents rather than to point score or alter the opponent’s gameplan. Rizzo recorded one of the earliest major MMA victories via leg kicks after MMA legend Dan Severn succumbed to the the shins of the Rio de Janeiro native.
In a fitting case of history repeating itself, Rizzo defeated Flores on Saturday with a similar lower body assault as his opponent could not continue fighting while his legs buckled under Rizzo’s relentless pressure.
Fancy a trip down MMA memory lane? Here is Rizzo’s final fight below:
Rizzo is the classic case of a supremely talented fighter who just couldn’t get over the hurdle of earning a major MMA title.
After going nine fights unbeaten with eight stoppages to his name, Rizzo faced off against Kevin Randleman for the UFC title at UFC 26. But, the American wrestling supremo Randleman grounded out a unanimous decision win against him.
Rizzo then rebounded from that loss with the aforementioned victory over Severn, before knocking out former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett to earn another shot at gold against Randy Couture.
UFC 31 saw Rizzo drop a unanimous decision loss to the legendary Couture. However, The Rock’s performance earned himself an immediate rematch for the belt at UFC 34. But, on this occasion, Rizzo fell to a third-round TKO loss to Couture—his first stoppage loss in his career.
The above TKO loss started a worrying trend. Rizzo’s final MMA record of 20-11 is blotted with seven knockout losses. While knockouts in the heavyweight division aren’t exactly rare, it’s always a worry when a fighter accumulates so many losses through this method.
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After a period of mixed fortunes following his Couture loss, Rizzo went 3-2 in the UFC: beating the likes of Andrei Arlovski and losing to fighters including Vladimir Matyushenko.
As a result, Rizzo opted to go the Japan to compete under the PRIDE banner. However, Rizzo’s stay with the promotion was short as he was ravaged by Russian ruffians Sergei Kharitanov and Roman Zentsov—suffering two knockout losses in the process.
With PRIDE promptly folding after his last fight with the promotion, Rizzo’s options in Japan had been exhausted. He did, however, manage to win the IFA heavyweight title against Justin Eilers before defending it against a formidable opponent in Jeff Monson.
But, Rizzo’s patchy run of results continued as he suffered a KO loss in a rematch with Barnett, before losing fights against the likes of Gilbert Yvel, Fedor Emelianenko and Satoshi Ishii in 2013—his last bout before his 2015 comeback.
Rizzo’s run of fighting fading MMA stars did see him beat classic competitors such as Ken Shamrock and Gary Goodridge. But, this did nothing to serve the legitimacy of Rizzo as a fighter who could still cut it at the highest level of the sport.
It’s unfair to cast aspersions on Rizzo’s career. He was a supremely talented fighter who couldn’t quite earn the materialistic accolades his ability warranted. But, he was a heavyweight who competed at the very highest level when the division was filled with some real formidable talent.
If you look at his body of work, Rizzo competed against Fedor Emelianenko, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Josh Barnett, Ken Shamrock, Gary Goodridge, Jeff Monson, Gilbert Yvel, Andrei Arlovski, Randy Couture, Sergei Kharitonov… I’ve went on long enough.
If that isn’t a murderers’ row of opponents, I don’t know what is.
It’s always sad to see fighters—heavyweights in particular due to their susceptibility to taking long-term damage in their fights—compete beyond their best years and retire on a low. Rizzo is no different as fans have clamored to see him hang up the gloves in the past.
But, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing an aging fighter end his career on a high. While Andrew Flores is certainly not the most well-known of Rizzo’s opponents, the way in which The Rock ended his run by bludgeoning Flores’ legs was akin to the early days of Rizzo’s fight history: a perfect way to cap off a memorable career.
