Sherdog.com Preview: PRIDE 31 “Unbreakable”
Pedro Rizzo vs. Roman Zentsov
Feb 24, 2006
RIZZO: Brazilian Vale Tudo fighter and Luta Livre
practitioner Pedro Rizzo
(Pictures) is a four-time Brazilian
Muay Thai champion with a record of 31-0-1 (30 KO) in kickboxing.
He is the World Vale Tudo Championships 2 tournament winner and a
former UFC heavyweight title contender.
Rizzo trains with Antoine Jaoude (Pictures), Eric Tavares (Pictures), Marco Ruas (Pictures) and the rest of the Ruas Vale Tudo Team. He has also worked with K-1 tournament champion Peter Aerts (Pictures) and carries a record of 14-6 in MMA and makes his PFC debut in this event.
Rizzo came to Ruas when he was just a young boy and Marco trained
him in Muay Thai, molding the unpolished youth into a four-time
Brazilian Muay Thai champion. Ruas also had him go to Holland where
some of the best kickboxers in the world train. There he amassed an
incredible before beginning his MMA career in the Battle of Styles
event.
Rizzo moved onto Brazil’s own World Vale Tudo Championships, where he won both the WVC 2 eight-man tournament (knocking out Lion’s Den fighter Vernon White (Pictures) with a kick in the final) and the WVC 3 super-fight.
A trip to Japan and an appearance in UFC 23 brought Rizzo another decisive victory, as he took out Alliance member Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures). Having remained undefeated with three knockouts in the Octagon, Rizzo earned a title shot at UFC 26 against then champion Kevin Randleman (Pictures).
Rizzo was unintentionally head butted late in the fight and reportedly has no memory of the final three rounds. He lost a decision to “The Monster.”
“The Rock” stayed on track by beating UFC triple-crown winner Dan Severn (Pictures) at UFC 27 with strikes and then knocking out Josh Barnett (Pictures) in dramatic fashion at UFC 30. Again Rizzo was in the title picture as he battled Randy Couture (Pictures) at UFC 31 in an epic five-round fight. The pair met again at UFC 34 but the Brazilian could not hang with the Team Quest wrestler and was stopped the third round.
At UFC 36 Rizzo went toe-to-toe with current UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski (Pictures), stopping the Belarusian with a right hand down the pipe. However, the wheels came off the proverbial cart again at UFC 39 when Rizzo faced “Giant” Gan McGee (Pictures). Pedro fought well and controlled much of the bout, but was caught with a right hand that broke his nose and forced a stoppage of the bout. At UFC 41 Rizzo faced Vladimir Matyushenko (Pictures) and lost a decision to the aggressive Russian wrestler.
In a rematch with Telligman, Rizzo started slow but eventually brought the heat and opened a series of cuts that became more gruesome as the bout wore on. Eventually the fight was stopped in the second round.
The final fight of his mammoth UFC contracted saw Rizzo win an unimpressive decision over Ricco Rodriguez (Pictures). After a year and a half away from the cage, Rizzo made his PFC debut against Sergei Kharitonov (Pictures). It was a bad match-up for Rizzo and he was stopped with strikes early in the first round.
ZENTSOV: Roman Zentsov (Pictures) is a mix-fight stylist from the Red Devil Sports Club who trains with Amar Suloev (Pictures) and Aleksander and Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures). He began wrestling at the age of 10 and stayed with the sport for five years. Zentsov moved onto striking arts, including boxing and kickboxing, hand-to-hand combat training and karate. He continued to hone his fighting style and took up the sport of MMA about six years ago. He carries an MMA record of 10-10-0.
Competing in the M-1, Zentsov took part in the 2000 Mix-Fight European Championship, losing in the final bout of a four-man tournament by knockout to current UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski (Pictures).
The event featured Zentsov, Arlovski and a cast of well-known athletes including Todd Medina, Mark Smith (Mark Smith' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures), Darrel Gholar and Red Devil teammates Martin Malkhasyan, Amar Suloev (Pictures) and Andrei Semenov (Pictures). Zentsov continued to fight in the M-1 promotion as well as other smaller shows like Millenium Sports (lost to RINGS star Joop Kasteel), BARS (knocked out by Russian nightmare Bazigit Atajev) and the entertaining Too Hot To Handle promotion.
In 2001 Zentsov battled PFC veteran Chalid Arrab (Pictures), knocking him out in under a minute. 2002 started poorly (being submitted by PFC Middleweight GP semifinalist Alistair Overeem (Pictures)) but he finished on a 3-0 run including a decision win over UFC 55 participant Alessio Sakara (Pictures).
MFC 6 pitted Zentsov against PRIDE veteran Bob Schrijber (Pictures) and the Russian submitted “Dirty Bob” early in the first round with a neck crank. Riding a four-fight losing streak dating back to February ’04 — including a cut stoppage in the MFC Euphoria promotion against veteran Travis Wiuff (Pictures), an injury stoppage loss to Ruas Vale Tudo fighter Antoine Jaoude (Pictures) at the next MFC show, and a submission loss to Fabricio Werdum (Pictures) — he came back to knockout PFC veteran Ibragim Magomedov (Pictures) in an M-1 event last November.
MY PICK: Rizzo. This should be a slugfest and Zentsov is a good opponent for Pedro to get back in the winner’s circle. That being said, a loss here would be devastating. There should be no surprises from Zentsov’s game and Rizzo is well rounded so when an opportunity to finish presents itself, he should seize it. Rizzo by TKO in the first round.
Rizzo trains with Antoine Jaoude (Pictures), Eric Tavares (Pictures), Marco Ruas (Pictures) and the rest of the Ruas Vale Tudo Team. He has also worked with K-1 tournament champion Peter Aerts (Pictures) and carries a record of 14-6 in MMA and makes his PFC debut in this event.
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Rizzo moved onto Brazil’s own World Vale Tudo Championships, where he won both the WVC 2 eight-man tournament (knocking out Lion’s Den fighter Vernon White (Pictures) with a kick in the final) and the WVC 3 super-fight.
He debuted in the UFC in 1998 in Ultimate Brazil, knocking out
brawler David Abbott and, as you might expect, a star was born.
After the impressive UFC debut, Rizzo faced two-time UFC tournament
winner Mark Coleman
(Pictures) at UFC 18 in the Road To
The Heavyweight Championship tournament series. The Brazilian won a
controversial decision over Coleman but opted not to face friend
Bas Rutten (Pictures) for the title and instead he
knocked out Lion’s Den fighter Tra Telligman (Pictures) at UFC 20.
A trip to Japan and an appearance in UFC 23 brought Rizzo another decisive victory, as he took out Alliance member Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures). Having remained undefeated with three knockouts in the Octagon, Rizzo earned a title shot at UFC 26 against then champion Kevin Randleman (Pictures).
Rizzo was unintentionally head butted late in the fight and reportedly has no memory of the final three rounds. He lost a decision to “The Monster.”
“The Rock” stayed on track by beating UFC triple-crown winner Dan Severn (Pictures) at UFC 27 with strikes and then knocking out Josh Barnett (Pictures) in dramatic fashion at UFC 30. Again Rizzo was in the title picture as he battled Randy Couture (Pictures) at UFC 31 in an epic five-round fight. The pair met again at UFC 34 but the Brazilian could not hang with the Team Quest wrestler and was stopped the third round.
At UFC 36 Rizzo went toe-to-toe with current UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski (Pictures), stopping the Belarusian with a right hand down the pipe. However, the wheels came off the proverbial cart again at UFC 39 when Rizzo faced “Giant” Gan McGee (Pictures). Pedro fought well and controlled much of the bout, but was caught with a right hand that broke his nose and forced a stoppage of the bout. At UFC 41 Rizzo faced Vladimir Matyushenko (Pictures) and lost a decision to the aggressive Russian wrestler.
In a rematch with Telligman, Rizzo started slow but eventually brought the heat and opened a series of cuts that became more gruesome as the bout wore on. Eventually the fight was stopped in the second round.
The final fight of his mammoth UFC contracted saw Rizzo win an unimpressive decision over Ricco Rodriguez (Pictures). After a year and a half away from the cage, Rizzo made his PFC debut against Sergei Kharitonov (Pictures). It was a bad match-up for Rizzo and he was stopped with strikes early in the first round.
ZENTSOV: Roman Zentsov (Pictures) is a mix-fight stylist from the Red Devil Sports Club who trains with Amar Suloev (Pictures) and Aleksander and Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures). He began wrestling at the age of 10 and stayed with the sport for five years. Zentsov moved onto striking arts, including boxing and kickboxing, hand-to-hand combat training and karate. He continued to hone his fighting style and took up the sport of MMA about six years ago. He carries an MMA record of 10-10-0.
Competing in the M-1, Zentsov took part in the 2000 Mix-Fight European Championship, losing in the final bout of a four-man tournament by knockout to current UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski (Pictures).
The event featured Zentsov, Arlovski and a cast of well-known athletes including Todd Medina, Mark Smith (Mark Smith' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures), Darrel Gholar and Red Devil teammates Martin Malkhasyan, Amar Suloev (Pictures) and Andrei Semenov (Pictures). Zentsov continued to fight in the M-1 promotion as well as other smaller shows like Millenium Sports (lost to RINGS star Joop Kasteel), BARS (knocked out by Russian nightmare Bazigit Atajev) and the entertaining Too Hot To Handle promotion.
In 2001 Zentsov battled PFC veteran Chalid Arrab (Pictures), knocking him out in under a minute. 2002 started poorly (being submitted by PFC Middleweight GP semifinalist Alistair Overeem (Pictures)) but he finished on a 3-0 run including a decision win over UFC 55 participant Alessio Sakara (Pictures).
MFC 6 pitted Zentsov against PRIDE veteran Bob Schrijber (Pictures) and the Russian submitted “Dirty Bob” early in the first round with a neck crank. Riding a four-fight losing streak dating back to February ’04 — including a cut stoppage in the MFC Euphoria promotion against veteran Travis Wiuff (Pictures), an injury stoppage loss to Ruas Vale Tudo fighter Antoine Jaoude (Pictures) at the next MFC show, and a submission loss to Fabricio Werdum (Pictures) — he came back to knockout PFC veteran Ibragim Magomedov (Pictures) in an M-1 event last November.
MY PICK: Rizzo. This should be a slugfest and Zentsov is a good opponent for Pedro to get back in the winner’s circle. That being said, a loss here would be devastating. There should be no surprises from Zentsov’s game and Rizzo is well rounded so when an opportunity to finish presents itself, he should seize it. Rizzo by TKO in the first round.
