Continuing the "better late than never" trend of signing top Pride fighters after everyone has forgotten about them, TATAME has an interesting report that Ricardo "The Brazilian Tiger" Arona is negotiating with the UFC, and will likely appear in the octagon in late 2010.

“I can’t talk about this project right now, but there’s a connection between me and the UFC now, something concrete that I didn’t have before. My return will be in the end of the year and will be in the UFC."

Much like Takanori Gomi, Arona was an elite fighter in Japan that many expected to see in the UFC after the purchase of Pride. 

MMA messageboards were not unfamiliar to a barrage of speculation about how Arona's machine-like takedowns and dominant ground game would stack-up against the UFC light-heavies.  There are two common differences that are often referenced about Arona fighting in the UFC versus in Pride:  the availability of the use of elbow strikes, which would only elevate the effectiveness of his offense; and also the octagon mechanics that allow a strong grappler to corner his opponent against the cage, facilitating control and hampering escape.

Arona agrees with those that feel his game would be strengthened in the UFC.  From an old Sherdog interview:

"When I arrived at Carlson Gracie’s gym at 16 years old, I already wanted to fight in MMA, and one of my specialties was taking my opponent down, striking him and hurting him from that position. This was cut from MMA when I went to fight in Japan. In the UFC, you can use the cage, which is perfect for me, because once you have your opponent in the corner, there’s no escape; it’s excellent to use to get the takedown. Once on the ground, it’s perfect for striking; it’s fatal. With those rules, I guess the referee will have to stop a lot of my fights quickly, because my great strong point is striking from above, from any position."

 Arona is well-known and admired for many feats throughout his career.  He is still often cited as the man who gave Fedor Emelianenko his toughest test for their bout in the Rings organization (watch Part 1, Part 2), and he also was the first man to beat Wanderlei Silva in Pride's 205 pound division when Silva was enjoying one of the most vicious and devastating win-streaks in MMA (Wand lost to Mark Hunt before Arona in an open-weight contest).

Arona holds a resplendant list of victims on his 14-5 record that include Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem, "Ninja" Rua, and Kazushi Sakuraba.  His only losses were to Pride's elite in Rampage, Wanderlei in the rematch, "Shogun" Rua, and Fedor in Rings.  His last Pride fight was the shocking knockout loss to Sokoudjou, and Arona joined Antonio Rogerio Nogueira as the two fighters who fell to "The African Assassin" and put him on the MMA map.

Arona returned after over a two year absence to face Marvin Eastman in his last fight at Bittetti Combat last September, and pulled out a lackluster win despite showing obvious signs of ring-rust.  Arona also reveals that he sustained a knee injury in that fight, which he's currently in the process of recovering from.

 

“I’m doing physical therapy, taking care of my knee. I hope I’ll be fully recovered by June and I’ll be back to fights in September or October. The recovery is really well."

 

“I’ll be worried about my performance, my knee and my body. I wanna do my best in every fight. I’m used to big competition like the UFC, I wanna be ready."

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