Look at the Fedor and Pedro Rizzo staredown (then marvel at the fight’s insane odds)

I adore leg kicks. I’ve written about it before, but I will remind the new guys: watching Marco Ruas chop down Paul Varleans at UFC 7 as a wide-eyed 12 year old changed something in me. I would spam the LK button at my local arcade on Mortal Kombat II, leading to many reset sprites flying through the air begging to be uppercutted (uppercat?) I would constantly low kick people off the elevated platforms in Virtua Fighter, and fast forward many years later – I open every fight in EA MMA with leg kicks and all I want to do is leg kick KO the guy across from me in UFC 3.

That’s just the way it is, baby. Leg kicks.

So when Marco Ruas’ protege Pedro Rizzo made his way into the UFC back in the day, I was excited to see him fight (I never saw UFC Brazil when he knocked out Tank Abbot until a few months ago.) Recently, I got comfy and rewatched the majority of Pedro’s fights and they’re as fun as I remember. His comeback split-decision win against Mark Coleman at UFC 18 is friggin’ awesome. Look it up, Rizzo puts on one of the finest leg kick displays early MMA has ever seen. And his battles with Josh Barnett are legendary.

Not to get personal, or off the subject (I’ve been off the subject since the outset, actually) but I was at the press conference after Feijao lost the Strikeforce LHW title to Hendo, and Anderson Silva and Pedro Rizzo were in Feijao’s corner. While fans flocked to get pictures with Anderson, Pedro looked stoically ahead, possibly with a twinge of sadness after reflecting on his glories past. Not a single person went up to him. I regret not approaching him and telling him what his leg kicks meant to me so many years ago, and still do.

Now tomorrow the greatest heavyweight of all time takes on Black House’s elder statesman, and Fedor is the favorite -2000 to Rizzo’s +1000. My heart hurts somewhat, but I’ll get over it. I will also place a crisp $20 on that line.

This is the Rizzo/Fedor staredown picture.

I have no idea what time the fight is tomorrow. I think that’s the comment section’s responsibility to figure out.

[Source]

Published on June 20, 2012 at 11:32 pm
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