It’s been a long time since heavyweight Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo (19-9) fought inside the octagon. His last appearance was back in November of 2003 at UFC 45 where he earned a unanimous decision win over Ricco Rodriguez. Since then the Brazilian found himself fighting for various organizations such as Pride, Affliction, Ultimate Chaos, and Impact FC in Australia.
Now, according to him, he’ll get a chance to earn his way back in against Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia (27-6) at an upcoming War on the Mainland event. A win will put either fighter back into the top promotion.
“Dana White mentioned that the winner should get another chance in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Another good reason for me to do a good job of preparing, if just because Tim is two meters tall and has great reach, and that means I have to change my way of fighting. I can’t stand still, I’ll have to move around the whole time. As the date hasn’t been set, it’s just a verbal agreement, so I’m getting back to light training. But I want to have a good performance. Who knows? Maybe I’ll manage a return to the UFC.”
Rizzo has won his last three bouts having TKO’d Ken Shamrock at Impact FC 2 in July, defeated Gary Goodridge at a Washing Combat event when his opponent failed to answer the bell, and earned a unanimous decision over Jeff Monson at a Bitetti Combat MMA event in Sept. 2009.
Check out the entire interview with “The Rock” at Graciemag.com.