FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- In the upcoming UFC, you are going to face a very tall guy in Gan McGee, how are you training for this fight?
Rizzo- I've never had to fight a guy this tall before, I watched some of his fights and from what I can see he's a typical wrestler who likes to corner the opponent against the fence using his elbows to cut the opponent's face. I've worked a lot on the ground and also standing, because he's very tall, so I'll try to keep the fight on the feet and if it goes to the ground I'll try to do the best possible.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- Is your game good when the taller guy is a wrestler?
Rizzo- Yeah, because if he was a kickboxer he'd be very good standing and know what to expect and he'd be able to hinder the fight, a fight on the feet can finish at any moment while on the ground you need to work for a finish. I'm training like I always train when I go to face a wrestler.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- Do you think that he will try to trade strikes with you since he's taller than you, such as to land jabs and try to keep you on the outside?
Rizzo- I don't know, he trains with Chuck Liddell and Liddell has a good Kickboxing base, and in the last of McGee's fights which I watched was against Josh Barnett and I think that McGee improved a lot since then. I think that I'll face an opponent a bit different from the fights which I watched, but I'm ready.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- YSpeaking about differences between fights, did you think that your last opponent (Andrei Orlosvsky) changed his game when he fought you?
Rizzo- I think that everybody trains a lot, NHB is developing within itself alot and in each fight the opponent and myself are better than in the last fight. In each fight you get experience, so this is the natural evolution of NHB, the fighters improve and the fights become harder.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- Do you think that he will try to trade strikes with you since he's taller than you, such as to land jabs and try to keep you on the outside?
Rizzo- I don't know, he trains with Chuck Liddell and Liddell has a good kickboxing base, and in the last of McGee's fights which I watched was against Josh Barnett and I think that McGee will have improved a lot since then. I think that I'll face an opponent a bit different from the fights which I watched, but I'm ready.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- You spoke about differences between the fights, so did you think that your last opponent (Andrei Orlosvsky) changed his game when he fought you?
Rizzo- I think that everybody trains a lot, NHB is developing within itself alot and in each fight the opponent and myself are better than in the last fight. In each fight you get experience, so this is the natural evolution of NHB, the fighters improve and the fights become harder.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- Did Orlovsky surprise you with his standup skills?
Rizzo- I don't think so, I didn't think that he'd have alot of boxing skills, but he was tall and had a strong punch. So I had to protect myself a bit, I didn't want to be surprised with a punch to the head or the chin, and this hindered the fight for me. The first round was like I wanted, in the second round I had got an injury from the first one, so I stalled the fight a bit and the boos started, however I knew that I was working the fight just right and that I had a chance to KO him. Since the beginning of this fight my goal was the KO and not to decision him, so in 3rd round I had absolute certainty that I'd KO him and I did.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- What was this injury which you got?
Rizzo- We kicked together, but when I landed the kick there was the shock of our legs when my foot wasn't in good position, so I got a injury in the ligaments of the ankle and foot.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- What's your opinion about Josh Barnett's use of illegal anabolic steroids?
Rizzo- I think it's like I said before, that NHB is developing and everybody is looking for an advantage. I think that anabolic gives an advantage, however with hard work you get the same results. I don't want to say much, but if he comes into a fight with me with or not anabolic steriods, he'd be like a normal opponent.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- With this happening to Barnett, did you hope to get your fourth opportunity to capture the heavyweight title?
Rizzo- I'm fighting, I'm not too much worried with this because then I put a lot of responsibility on my myself and then I fight bad. So who ever they put in front of me I'll fight, if the title match comes this or next year, I'm ready. Despite I consider myself a UFC champion because I had three opportunities and in the second one I think that I won. Everybody who has had the belt I won, so I think that the belt is only a symbol of the conquest and this'll happen naturally, I think that if I keep my mind clear I can beat anybody.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- Do you consider your three defeats as psychological problems?
Rizzo- Only the second fight against Couture, the first one and against Kevin Randleman I think not. I didn't have luck against Randleman and I suffered an accidental headbutt, while the first one against Couture I think that I won, I was very well trained however I expended a lot of gas during that fight. So the second against Couture I think that really the psychological side defeated me, I put a lot of pressure on myself, I couldn't lose because everybody spoke that I'd win easily, so I think that I let these things influence me; I fought wanting to show gratitude to everybody who supported me when I was defeated, but I should fight first for me instead of them.
Rizzo- He wanted to do his retirement in that fight, but he got an injury training. He was ready to fight and he'd win for sure, he came to Brazil and our team was supporting him with our all tools. He'd stop his brilliant career on the top, however right now he's got to recover and he'll return to do his retirement fight, his career didn't finish.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- Another guy who was here in Brazil in the last month was Peter Aerts, is this the first time that you're training with him here?
Rizzo- Yeah, when I fought Orlovsky I went to Holland and we had agreed that he'd come to Brazil this time.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- What kind of training did you do with Aerts here?
Rizzo- He is unquestionable on the feet [laughs]. Aerts is taller than me and he got to teach me some important positions which Ruas would teach if he was here, these position are small details which're so important within a fight.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- Did Aerts show any interest to fight NHB since these challenges between K-1 Vs. NHB fighters appeared?
Rizzo- He received some invitations to fight, one of them was in Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye last December. He asked about what I thought and he said that it was a good purse, so I think that he'd like to fight, he's here in Rio de Janeiro training Wrestling and Luta-Livre too, so if anybody face him in December he'll not be just a guy who only knows to fight on the feet.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- After Gan MacGee, will you fight again in the UFC?
Rizzo- I'd like to fight, but this is up to the UFC promoters, only two fights per year isn't good for me, I'd like to fight 4 times. UFC has its schedule and I'm an employee and I've accepted what they do. I believe a lot in Dana and Lorenzo, and if they want that I fight in UFC 40 too, I fight, no problems, I'm professional.
Rizzo- It's hard to pick and I know that this'll be hard for both, this's a fight you never know who'll win. Couture knows how to play with the fence and he learned something from that fight against Barnett, while Rodriguez has a game similar to Barnett, only that Barnett is better on the feet and Rodriguez is better at getting in to take the opponent down and to fight on the ground. So I think that Couture will not face many things different than in his fight with Barnett and as Couture is smart, he'll have learned by his mistakes during that fight against Barnett. Couture is thinking that maybe this could be his retirement fight, so he wants this heavyweight title to retire himself on the top.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- So it's hard to pick a winner?
Rizzo- I'm a fighter and I know what goes on inside the octagon, so for me this is 50% for each [laughs].
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- What did you think about that heavyweight match between Frank Mir & Ian 'The Machine' Freeman, mainly about Mir, who was considered the favorite?
Rizzo- Mir won two fights very fast and the media put him out there as an exceptional fighter. I constructed my career solid and slowly, I think that the fighter needs to have experience, you can see that Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira started fighting in WEF, after he went to RINGS and then to Pride, everything slowly. I think that I've a solid career, 'Minotauro' has a solid career, I believe a lot in fighting to get experience. I think that Mir didn't have this experience, he got two meteoric victories and he didn't know everything what could happen in the octagon, you need to learn to deal with difficulties to be consider a top fighter, I think that I surpassed some of these difficulties and nothing more can scare me. So what happened with Mir is just part of a fighter's career, he'll learn with this and he'll raise his head and recover himself.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- Did you hope to face the winner of Mir and 'The Machine'?
Rizzo- Yeah, I was expecting this, but the promoters know what is better and put McGee in to fight me, no problems I fight anyone.
FIGHTWORLD.com Brazil- Last words?
Rizzo- With Aerts here, my training's quality is better and with my team training hard, everything will run ok. I still have a lot of time to improve more to UFC 39.
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