Ricardo Arona (born July 17, 1978 in Niteroi, Brazil) is a Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter and PRIDE FC Middleweight Grand Prix finalist. He has competed in PRIDE Fighting Championships and RINGS in his mixed martial arts career. He is a member of Brazilian Top Team.

Abu Dhabi and RINGS

Ricardo Arona's popularity came from competing in the Abu Dhabi Combat Club submission wrestling competitions, where he won an open weight tournament as well as the 92 kg (202 pound) tournament. Arona is the only competitor in Abu Dhabi to have won a championship and to be undefeated so far. ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship.

Soon after Abu Dhabi Combat Club, Arona joined RINGS, a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion. Arona's only loss in RINGS came at the hands of Fedor Emelianenko, in a controversial decision. Many felt that Arona won the fight. However, as RINGS scoring was based on damage dealt and attempts to finish the fight rather than positional control, categories in which many feel Fedor surpassed Arona in, the decision was given to Emelianenko. Fedor later went on to become Pride Fighting Championships' Heavyweight Champion. After losing to Fedor, Arona won his last three fights in RINGS.

It has been announced that Arona will not fight in ADCC 2009 because he is expected to participate in Bitetti Combat, two months before the event, when he will face Marvin Eastman.

PRIDE Fighting Championships

After being noticed in RINGS, Arona was offered a contract to join PRIDE Fighting Championships. Arona started his career in PRIDE strong winning his first three fights against Guy Mezger, Dan Henderson and Murilo Rua. He then lost his fourth fight to Quinton Jackson in a spectacular knockout from a slam. Arona claimed that an illegal headbutt he received by Jackson at the end of the slam was what knocked him out. Four months later, Arona returned to PRIDE and won his next 3 fights. On April 23, 2005, Arona entered PRIDE's Middleweight (205 lbs) Grand Prix. Arona won his first fight in the tournament against Dean Lister by unanimous decision. In the 2nd round of the Grand Prix, he won his fight against the famous Japanese fighter Kazushi Sakuraba via TKO (Doctor Stoppage).

His semifinal match, against rival Wanderlei Silva, was held on August 28, 2005. Arona surprised everyone when he defeated Silva, who was the PRIDE Middleweight Champion at the time, by decision handing Silva his first middle weight defeat in Pride. After defeating Silva, Arona advanced to finals where he faced rising MMA fighter Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. In a dominant performance, Rua defeated Arona by knockout by hammerfists to the face in the first round.

On December 31, 2005 Ricardo Arona fought Wanderlei Silva for a second time, this time for the Middleweight Championship. Ricardo Arona lost the match in a split decision.

On September 10, 2006 Arona faced Alistair Overeem. After withstanding the initial attack from Overeem, Arona landed an inside leg kick, injuring his opponent's leg and making him drop to the ground. Arona quickly overwhelmed Overeem on the ground by blanketing him and showed complete domination throughout the bout. He continued his assault until Overeem tapped out from a barrage of strikes.

Arona claims he suffered from a dengue hemorrhagic fever, before a KO loss to Sokoudjou at PRIDE 34 on April 8, 2007. Arona's Comeback fight against UFC veteran Marvin Eastman was canceled due to an injury that Eastman suffered during training. The fight with Eastman was rescheduled and took place at Bitetti Combat MMA 4 on September 12, 2009. Arona won the fight via unanimous decision.

Ricardo Arona is currently in talks with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, expecting to make his debut for the promotion by the end of 2010.

Mixed martial arts record

19 matches 14 wins 5 losses

By knockout 2 3

By submission 3 0

By decision 9 2

14–5 2009-09-12 Win Marvin Eastman Decision (Unanimous) Bitetti Combat MMA 4 3 5:00 Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

13–5 2007-04-08 Loss Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou KO (Punch and Soccer Kick) PRIDE 34 1 1:59 Saitama, Japan

13–4 2006-09-10 Win Alistair Overeem Submission (Punches) PRIDE Final Conflict Absolute 1 4:28 Saitama, Japan

12–4 2005-12-31 Loss Wanderlei Silva Decision (Split) PRIDE Shockwave 2005 3 5:00 Saitama, Japan PrideFC Middleweight championship

12–3 2005-08-28 Loss Mauricio Rua KO (Strikes) PRIDE Final Conflict 2005 1 2:54 Saitama, Japan Pride 2005 Middleweight GP Final

12–2 2005-08-28 Win Wanderlei Silva Decision (Unanimous) PRIDE Final Conflict 2005 2 5:00 Saitama, Japan Pride 2005 Middleweight GP Semifinal

11–2 2005-06-26 Win Kazushi Sakuraba TKO (Corner Stoppage) PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005 2 5:00 Saitama, Japan Pride 2005 Middleweight GP Quarterfinal

10–2 2005-04-23 Win Dean Lister Decision (Unanimous) PRIDE Total Elimination 2005 3 5:00 Osaka, Japan Pride 2005 Middleweight GP Opening Round

9–2 2004-10-31 Win Sergey Ignatov Submission (Rear Naked Choke) PRIDE 28 1 9:05 Saitama, Japan

8–2 2004-06-20 Loss Quinton Jackson KO (Slam) PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004 1 7:32 Saitama, Japan

8–1 2002-11-24 Win Murilo Rua Decision (Unanimous) PRIDE 23 3 5:00 Tokyo, Japan

7–1 2002-04-28 Win Dan Henderson Decision (Split) PRIDE 20 3 5:00 Yokohama, Japan

6–1 2001-09-24 Win Guy Mezger Decision (Split) PRIDE 16 3 5:00 Osaka, Japan

5–1 2001-08-11 Win Gustavo Machado TKO (Punches) Rings-10th Anniversary 1 1:29 Tokyo, Japan

4–1 2001-08-11 Win Jeremy Horn Decision (Majority) Rings-10th Anniversary 2 5:00 Tokyo, Japan

3–1 2001-06-15 Win Hiromitsu Kanehara Submission (Kneebar) Rings-World Title Series 2 2 0:53 Yokohama, Japan

2–1 2000-12-22 Loss Fedor Emelianenko Decision (Unanimous) Rings-King of Kings 2000 Block B 3 5:00 Osaka, Japan

2–0 2000-08-23 Win Jeremy Horn Decision (Split) Rings-Millennium Combine 3 2 5:00 Osaka, Japan

1–0 2000-04-20 Win Andrei Kopylov Decision (Unanimous) Rings-Millennium Combine 1 2 5:00 Tokyo, Japan