Ricardo Arona is one of those athletes whom the younger BJJ enthusiasts have trouble recalling – and no wonder, because he was a superbly dominant competitor back in the late ’90s and early 2000s. For instance, he won the 2000 and 2001 ADCC Championships (in the 99kg division and the absolute division as well in 2001); defeating athletes such as Jean Jacques Machado, Saulo Ribeiro, and Ricardo Almeida.
However, Arona is perhaps best known for his successes in mixed martial arts. From 2001 and 2007, he focused on fighting in Pride FC; beating legendary fighters such as Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba, and Wanderlei Silva.
With that said, Ricardo Arona has amounted 14 MMA victories via submission! Which, together with other achievements, firmly earns him the ADCC Hall of Fame spot.
Ricardo Arona is always being pushed by fans to compete again in Jiu-Jitsu. About ten days ago, Fepa Lopes, founder of BJJ Stars , was at the “Tigre” gym in Itacoatiara, Niterói, Brazil. On social media, obviously, fans were excited about a possible comeback.
The reason for the meeting between Fepa and Arona was not revealed by any party. In the caption of the photo, the creator of BJJ Stars just thanked the reception: “Today I had the pleasure of visiting the house of Tigre, world Jiu-Jitsu idol, Pride (MMA) champion and the greatest of all in the ADCC, the beast Ricardo Arona. Thanks for the welcome, idol,” he wrote.
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The post on Instagram made fans dream and there were numerous messages pushing Arona’s participation in the next edition of BJJ Stars: “Arona on BJJ Stars would be epic”, said @bronxbjj13. Already @elton.noranha.10 asked: “Arona fighting BJJ Stars would be great, huh”. @heitorbessa posted “Arona on BJJ Stars? He had taken!”.
At 44 years old, Ricardo Arona hasn’t had a professional fight since 2009, when he participated in Bitetti Combat and defeated Marvin Eastman. In MMA, the Brazilian has a record of 14 wins and only five defeats. In Grappling, “Tigre” is a three-time ADCC champion, in addition to having won the superfight against Mark Kerr.
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