Pedro Augusto "The Rock" Rizzo (born May 3, 1974) is a Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter and professional kickboxer. He has a professional MMA record of 15-7-0 as of March 10, 2007. Rizzo is considered to be an excellent striker among MMA athletes.
Rizzo holds notable wins over Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Mark Coleman, Dan Severn and Ricco Rodriguez. He is a four-time Brazilian Muay Thai champion with a record of 31-0-1 (30 KO) in kickboxing. Trained by Vale Tudo legend Marco Ruas, Rizzo has adopted Ruas' brutal leg kicks and has developed strong stand up fighting and used this to great effect in the cage. Rizzo's move to the Japanese PRIDE event has not gone well so far for the former UFC Heavyweight Title contender, suffering losses at the hands of Sergei Kharitonov and Roman Zentsov.
According to UFC commentator Joe Rogan during the broadcast of UFC 45, "Rizzo is one of the greatest strikers in mixed martial arts. If he had the aggressive attitude of, say, Wanderlei Silva, he would just crush everybody. But he's a counter-fighter. His style, he likes to sit and wait for the perfect opportunity. If you chase after him, and you leave openings, a la Josh Barnett, he'll knock you out. But if you stand there and just pose with him, he'll pose back with you...In my opinion, [he is] the best striker in mixed martial arts".
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