Saturday will be an evening of strong emotions for former UFC
heavyweight contender Pedro
Rizzo.
In addition to cornering Raoni
Barcelos in his fifith Octagon appearance against Khalid Taha
in a featured bantamweight bout at
UFC on ESPN 17, he will also witness a fight between two of his
very close friends in the main event when Glover
Teixeira squares off against Thiago
Santos in a battle of light heavyweight contenders.
“Glover Teixeira is like a brother to me. When he came to Brazil in
2008, we trained together every day for almost five years. We even
lived together for almost one year in Florida,” Rizzo told
Sherdog.com. “‘Marreta’ is a student who trained with me for four
years. Actually, when UFC announced they would fight, I promised
that I would go to my farm where my telephone and TV don’t work.
That was my plan until UFC invited Raoni to the same card.”
Even though he doesn’t enjoy watching two friends fight, Rizzo
recognizes the logic behind the matchmaking.
“I totally understand [the] UFC. That’s the fight to make,” he
said. “Both had great fights against Jon Jones,
both are coming from an impressive sequence of wins, but only one
can be the champion, so if one has to take the other’s dream, I
just hope they can make the ‘Fight of the Year.’ That’s what I’ll
be cheering for.”
“The Rock” envisions a clear strategy for both Santos and Teixeira
in the UFC on ESPN 17 headliner.
“They have opposite fighting styles. ‘Marreta’ moves a lot, just
like he did with Jon Jones, always throwing vicious kicks and
punches, while Glover hunts his opponent all the time, combining
striking with takedowns and his ground game,” Rizzo said. “I see
Glover in the middle of the Octagon attacking all the time, while
‘Marreta’ will be moving and looking for the perfect opportunity to
hit Glover with his powerful punches and kicks. It definitely will
be an interesting matchup.”
Rizzo’s tense tone changes when discussing Barcelos, who
takes a four-bout winning streak into his showdown with Taha.
“Taha is a very good
kickboxer and has a strong overhand. I think he will try to avoid
takedowns and try to knock out Raoni. Both are very explosive
fighters, so it’s going to be an interesting fight,” Rizzo said.
“But I see Raoni with more tools to win [than his opponent]. Raoni
today is a complete fighter. He was already a wrestling and
jiu-jitsu champion and since 2008 he has been training kickboxing
with me. Besides that he is always in great shape. Actually, if the
fight was against the champion Petr Yan,
Raoni would be ready.
Rizzo has worked with other UFC champions such as Jose Aldo and
Anderson
Silva in the past, and he believes Barcelos compares favorably
with them.
“I already worked with many great UFC fighters and I have no doubt
to point to Raoni as the most intelligent and complete fighter I
have ever worked with,”Rizzo said. “Unfortunately the UFC is having
a hard time to find opponents for him. In this camp, for example,
we had three changes in opponent. I truly hope that if he gets a
fifth straight win, they will give him a ranked guy next.”
In his most recent outing, Barcelos outpointed Said
Nurmagomedov at UFC Fight Night 165 last December. Rizzo claims
that Nurmagomedov is a Top 5-caliber bantamweight, which only
boosts Barcelos’ stock.
“Nurmagomedov is a monster. He was 14 -1 when he faced Raoni. I
have no doubt he would be a nightmare to any Top 5 fighters of the
bantamweight division,” Rizzo said. “That’s why I truly believe
Raoni today would be able to beat any of the Top 5 ranked in
that division. But, of course, a fight is a fight and anything can
happen.”