Ricardo Arona is a Brazilian former professional mixed martial artist, submission grappler and 4th degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt practitioner.
30 Facts About Ricardo Arona
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Ricardo Arona is the former RINGS Middleweight Champion, as well as the 2001 RINGS Middleweight Championship Tournament Winner, and 2005 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Runner-Up.
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Ricardo Arona has notable wins in both MMA and submission grappling competition over Tito Ortiz, Jeff Monson, Renato Sobral, Vitor Belfort, Mark Kerr, Kazushi Sakuraba, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem, Murilo Rua, Jeremy Horn, Guy Mezger, and Dean Lister.
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Ricardo Arona trained in judo and karate before transitioning into Brazilian jiu-jitsu after seeing a vale tudo fight at the age of 13.
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Ricardo Arona came to Carlson Gracie at the age of 18 when he was a purple belt and would go on to win numerous titles in BJJ and submission wrestling.
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Ricardo Arona is the only ADCC competitor to go undefeated without losing a single point in any match.
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Ricardo Arona then beat Jeremy Horn by split decision, and went to participate in the King of Kings tournament, but was eliminated at the first round by Fedor Emelianenko in Arona's first loss.
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Ricardo overwhelmed him with punches and takedowns, while Kanehara repeatedly reversed to top position and kept attacking, but Arona submitted him in the second round with a kneebar.
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The final match was against Gustavo Machado, who Ricardo Arona defeated with kicks and punches in 1:29 to win the tournament and the title.
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Ricardo Arona started his career there strong, defeating Pancrase veteran Guy Mezger, but his victory would be a controversial one.
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Ricardo Arona won a split decision, which was disputed by some sources, including the announcers of the match.
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Ricardo Arona's next fight would be against another high ranked opponent, Dan Henderson.
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At the second round, despite receiving a cut over his eye, Ricardo Arona managed to overpower Henderson and punish him from the top.
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Ricardo Arona looked to have secured a rear-naked choke, only for Henderson to escape, but Arona controlled him to end the match and got the split decision.
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At PRIDE 23, Ricardo Arona would go against Murilo Rua, a member of the Chute Boxe team, which was in a rivalry with Brazilian Top Team at the time.
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The match went back and forth, with Murilo escaping from sparse submissions and landing his famed strikes, but Ricardo Arona overpowered him with takedowns and kicks at the end and won the unanimous decision.
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Ricardo Arona seemed to knock out Jackson with an upkick, but as it wasn't so, he followed with a triangle choke, only for Jackson to suddenly lift him up and counter it with a powerbomb.
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Four months later, Ricardo Arona returned to PRIDE and won a fight against sambo champion Sergey Ignatov.
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On 23 April 2005, Ricardo Arona entered PRIDE's Middleweight Grand Prix.
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Ricardo Arona won his first fight in the tournament against Dean Lister by unanimous decision, controlling the ADCC contender in a slow grappling contest.
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The Japanese tried to keep on, but Ricardo Arona hit another flurry of knees to the head, and ended the fight landing soccer kick after soccer kick.
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Ricardo Arona was declared the winner when Sakuraba's corner called a stop to the fight at the conclusion of the second round due to the amount of damage he had sustained.
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On 31 December 2005 Ricardo Arona fought Wanderlei Silva for a second time, this time for the Middleweight Championship.
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Ricardo Arona threatened to execute the same gameplan, but Silva countered it with a strong takedown defense and an opportunistic striking, including standing away from Ricardo Arona's guard and kicking his legs.
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Arona got a decisive takedown at the second round and performed ground and pound, only for Silva to reverse and get free, which forced Ricardo to pull guard.
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At the final round, Ricardo Arona managed to take Wanderlei to the ground and attack from top position, with Silva reversing him again and kicking at his legs.
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Ricardo Arona lost the match in a heavily debated split decision.
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Ricardo Arona continued his assault until Overeem tapped out from a barrage of strikes.
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Ricardo Arona suffered from a dengue hemorrhagic fever, going into his fight against Sokoudjou on 8 April 2007 at PRIDE 34.
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In June 2014, Ricardo Arona was offered a contract by Bellator MMA.