Pedro
Rizzo has been doing his part to help further combat sports
among Brazilian youth.
Since 2016, the former UFC heavyweight contender has led a social
project called “Usina de Campeões,” where more than 300 children
from the slums of Rio de Janeiro have the opportunity to train six
different martial arts styles. The most talented among those kids
might get the opportunity to train on the professional MMA team
some day alongside the likes of UFC fighters Raoni
Barcelos and Warlley
Alves.
“Everything that I have conquered in my life is because of martial
arts,” said Rizzo, who works six days a week coordinating the
project. “I can’t describe how happy I´m for being able
to help so many children to escape from drug dealing and
criminal life thru martial arts.”
Rizzo was also able to discuss the current state of the heavyweight
division, including the recent championship clash at UFC 260, with
Sherdog.com.
“I have to admit that I was expecting [Stipe] Miocic to keep the
title. I thought he would take more risks in order to get [Francis]
Ngannou in the groundm but he didn´t,” Rizzo said. “Of course
Francis deserves all the credit, but I still see Miocic as a more
well-rounded fighter and if he used a less predictable strategy, he
would have kept the belt.”
Although Jon Jones has
been in contentious talks with the UFC for a move to heavyweight
and a fight with Ngannou, Rizzo doesn’t think “Bones” is the right
man to neutralize the current champion.
“Jones used to have problems with fighters of similar range, as we
could see against [Alexander] Gustafsson and [Dominick] Reyes. Even
gaining some weight, he is not a natural heavyweight with one-punch
knockout power. I truly believe that if Daniel
Cormier is able to get in shape again, he would be the worst
matchup for Ngannou,” Rizzo said.
Cormier retired following a loss to Miocic in a trilogy bout at UFC
252 in August 2020 and hasn’t expressed interest in a comeback
since then. Nonetheless, Rizzo pointed out a couple of examples of
Cormier’s previous victories that would bode well for him in a
hypothetical matchup with Ngannou.
“Good examples of that are his fight against Derrick
Lewis and both against Anthony
Johnson, two beasts with impressive knockout power, and neither
could stay on their feet for too long against DC,” Rizzo said.
“Cormier just doesn’t accept the standup fight, that´s why I
believe he would be such a bad matchup for Ngannou.”
Rizzo also discussed his student, Barcelos, who is slated to face
Timur
Valiev at a UFC event on June 26.
“To tell you the truth, I´m still very upset because I thought
Raoni was finally going to get a ranked opponent after five
impressive wins, but it was not the case yet,” Rizzo said. “His
manager, Jorge Guimarães, says that most ranked opponents didn’t
want to fight him and Sean
O’Malley, who has the same number of [UFC] wins as Raoni,
didn’t answer his challenge on Twitter.”
Rizzo’s primary goal now is to keep Barcelos motivated as he
prepares for Valiev.
“Besides being the most complete and intelligent fighter I´ve ever
worked with, Raoni is such a hard worker. I need to control his
passion,” Rizzo said.
Rizzo has not yet gotten into game planning for Valiev, but he
remains confident Barcelos will prevail regardless of what might
show up on film.
“I just got the news that [Barcelos] will face this guy. I haven’t
even had time to study him,” Rizzo said. “But I´m
sure Raoni is able to win. He is the portrait of Ruas
Vale Tudo philosophy. I have no doubt he is able to beat every
opponent in the bantamweight division and get the UFC belt.”