MMA Punch - MMA News, Fight Predictions, and Opinions

Saturday, May 28, 2005

ex UFC Champs Pedro Rizzo in next Pride Fighting Championship

I must say, I'm not a fan of Pedro Rizzo at all. I've always thought of "The Rock" as a pretty borning fighters. Pedro is a true counter puncher and those kinds of fighters tend to be boring at times as they do not tend to press the pace in a fight but instead sit back and wait for their opponents to be the agressors. Looking back at Pedro's record his first 9 fights (4 of them UFC fights) he was undefeated with ALL but one of those fights ending by KO or submission. Since that amazing streak, he has lost 5 of his last 10 fights (with all of those fights in the UFC). To his credit, he did beat Josh Barnett, Andre Arlovski, and Ricco Rodriguez all great UFC and Pride fighters. As accomplished as Pedro Rizzo is, I still don't like him as a fighter. He really bores me and I think many others. This is why we haven't seen him fight for a year and a half. I remember that the UFC basically told him to step it up or they wouldn't renew his contract. Even with all that on the line, Pedro didn't step it up (another reason why I don't like him as a fighter) and he got the boot from the Ultimate Fighting Championship. And that brings us to the Pride Fighting Championship. In the upcoming PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix, Pedro Rizzo will take on Sergei Kharitonov (also on the Pride card will be former Heavyweight Champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the only man to beat Sergei). I'll be curios to see what kind of shape Pedro comes in. In the past, he has always look a little soft to me, not the vision of a top ranked MMA fighter. As much as I hate to say it, I think Pedro has a good shot against Kharitonov. I seen Sergei coming in, moving forward with Pedro neutralizing him and ultimately landing a KO shot. He doesn't look it, but Pedro has one of the most powerful strikes in all of NHB. The Pride tournament is just around the corner and I can't wait!

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