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Ricco “Suave” Rodriguez the former UFC heavyweight champion has now put up his heavyweight championship belt he got at UFC 39 up for bid on eBay with the starting bid set at $29,999.00 US. Ricco has had a lot of ups and downs in his 10-year MMA career. He's accomplished a lot in a short time and at 28 years-old (with a 22-6 MMA record) and is one of the most skilled fighters to ever fight in hte heavyweight division in mixed martial arts.

This was the championship belt where Rodriguez defeated Randy Couture via a fifth round verbal submission. “That was my best moment when I beat Couture,” Rodriguez recalled. “It was the Rocky story. I was getting my ass kicked for three rounds and I came back to win. You couldn't have written it any better than that.”

He has fought in most of the prestigious fight organizations UFC, PRIDE, King of the Cage and rose to prominence as the UFC Heavyweight Champion before dropping the title to Tim Sylvia in 2003.


Rodriguez's martial arts background is in wrestling and he was one of the most highly decorated high school wrestlers in the state of New York. He later moved to California and began training in the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with Rigan and Jean Jacques Machado, going on to win numerous prestigious Jiu Jitsu tournaments and the gold medal at the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship. With his Jiu Jitsu and wrestling background, Rodriguez then embarked on a career in mixed martial arts.Rodriguez is one of the most skilled and talented fighters in mixed martial arts history but never had the drive of work ethic to maintain his talent. Rodriguez is one of the most technically sound fighters and has incredible submissions and jujitsu on the ground as he has competed in the presitious ADCC submission tournament where he has beating Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira via knee bar.

The posting on ebay states that “He’s selling it to help raise money for a school we are opening in the South”

Though it might say Ricco is selling his belt on to raise money for a charity on the eBay posting, many in the MMA world believe that Ricco is selling it because he is in need of money. Right now he has stopped training stopped training and ballooned to over 300 pounds. Rumors of Rodriguez’s partying and alcohol have been out for years and selling the belt might be a way of earning cash as his fight game has become no existent over  the last few years. With the belt came fame, fortune and a lavish lifestyle. Rodriguez was living the Hollywood life partying with celebrities, living in a mansion and spending money like clockwork. He had videos of him on youtube.com partying and dancing at the clubs while he should have been training with Mark Kerr for an upcoming fight (see video)

There has never been a doubt of Ricco Rodriguez’s talent but his heart and willing to compete has always been in question. “You go from being the champ to craziness,” Ricco said. “After that I was pissed off. (The UFC) decided to put me in a preliminary match with Rizzo which turned out to be one of the best prelim bouts they ever had. I didn't like the way it panned out.” That was the last time Rodriguez fought in the UFC. He took a year off from fighting after a devastating 2003 when he lost three in a row.

Has Ricco I hit rock bottom now? When asked in September of 2007 where he’d been since winning and losing the Ultimate Fighting Championship 4 ½ years ago, Ricco Rodriguez said he’s basically been hanging out and partying while fighting for small time promotions. But he also did something else during that time – went to drug rehab. After testing positive for cocaine and marijuana before a fight, he was called by a talent agency about participating VH1’s Celebrity Rehab reality show. Ricco has completed the drug treatment program and hopefully he has gotten his life back into order.

“My whole life my favorite movie was Rocky,” Rodriguez said. “I lived the Rocky story. I really did live the whole thing. That's a real story. That's a fighter's story. That's why there is a Rocky 6 because the fighter's story is not over. Just like my story is not over.”

Too bad for Ricco has not seen the Rocky movies lately because loses everything and is poor.

Let’s just hope that Ricco has beaten his demons and is on the road to recovery and good health..
 
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