The former Pride middleweight grand prix finalist Ricardo ‘The Brazilian Tiger’ Arona is considered by many as one of the top light heavyweight fighters in the world today. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert holds notable wins over top fighters including Wanderlei Silva, Alistair Overeem, Kazushi Sakuraba, Dan Henderson, Guy Mezger, Dean Lister, Murilo Rua and Jeremy Horn. Arona has fought a total of only three mixed martial arts fights since September of 2006. In a recent interview, Arona tells us that he’ll be making his UFC debut by the end of 2010.
From Ricardo Arona via tatame.com:
“I stopped (the original negotiations) because of the (knee) injury, but some things happened, some managers called me with some projects I’ll release soon, but I’m sure I’ll be back in an international event. 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. 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.”
