The 'Art of War' lives up to its name in more ways than one

Sun Sports Entertainment put on the third installment of its "Art of War" fight promotion Saturday night in Dallas, and it was its most ambitious event to date, both in terms of production and the quality of talent on the card.

This time out, Art of War featured names such as Rizzo, Waterman, Horn and Monson for an event that had more than 7,500 Texans turning their eyes away from the football field for a few hours to see some great fights. Even current and former Dallas Cowboys Tony Romo, Michael Irvin and Tony Dorsett made it out to cheer on the fighters.

Art of War billed this event as a night of USA vs. Brazil, matching up American fighters and a Brazilian contingent made up of fighters from the Chute Boxe, Ruas Vale Tudo and Machado camps.

The main event featured Jeff Monson and Pedro Rizzo, both previous challengers for the UFC heavyweight belt, in a true clash of styles with the former Abu Dhabi grappler meeting the former kickboxing champ.

Monson came out pressing the action and it looked as though a thumb from one of his punches had Rizzo's right eye swollen and bloody in the early moments.

Jeff Monson was on the receiving end of some pretty nasty blows. Despite a reach disadvantage, Monson was able to get in some good punches and even a clever body shot. Monson finally went for a takedown but his shot from the outside was stuffed and he was planted on his back by Rizzo.

In the second, Rizzo seemed a little tentative while Monson scored with a nice left jab followed by a kick. Rizzo finally began to start finding his range and used straight left jabs to keep Monson at arm's length. A few more jabs and leg kicks had Monson beginning to drop his hands a bit. Monson tried for his second and third takedown attempts only to have them thwarted by a sprawling Rizzo.

The third round began with Rizzo looking like he might pick Monson apart with more leg kicks and straight punches. Monson countered with an overhand right that snapped Rizzo's head back before connecting again with a straight to the body.

Both men looked like they'd been in a fight with a bear trap. Rizzo, cut on several places on his face, continued to attack Monson's lead leg while keeping the grappler at the end of his punches.

Rizzo finally found the combination he'd been looking for all night and Monson, with one less tooth than he had before the fight, fell to the canvas. The Brazilian heavy hitter jumped on his challenger for the IFA belt before being pulled off by the referee.

Afterward, Rizzo said he was shocked Monson chose to stand with him.

"It was a big surprise," said the Brazilian heavyweight, who ended Monson's night at 2:40 of the third. "We expected him to box a little and shoot a lot. So I was waiting for the shooting but the shooting never comes."

Rizzo seems comfortable in the ring again and he's certainly not missing any of his trademark power. "Art of War" might have to go through a few more heavyweights before it can find somebody to give Rizzo a loss.

In other action, Jorge Santiago submitted veteran Jeremy Horn. Working on the bottom, Santiago locked in a triangle choke that forced a tap-out at 3:02 of the first.

Ron Waterman survived being on the bottom of mammoth super heavyweight Mario Rinaldi to turn around his fortunes and win by knockout with 21 seconds remaining in the opening round.