Ricardo Arona

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It has been two very long years since we've seen Ricardo Arona in action, losing to Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at PRIDE 34.  According to Arona himself, he'll be returning to MMA after a long hiatus in September and spoke to Tatame about it:

I'm getting prepared and strengthening me enough so that I won’t get injured, but it’s very difficult in MMA. What I’ll do is try to make a smart fight, so that I can win and try to influence myself so that I won’t get hurt in this fight, which is most important. Of course that in the MMA we take these risks, but I would only be out of ADCC if I have a very serious injury.

 

How are you seeing this return of MMA to, perhaps, take you back to the international market?

 

For me, it’s a great opportunity to show that I'm back well, conditioned, as I always did great fights. Be able to return and get my place of duty, which is among the best in the world, or in the UFC or fighting at the Dream, in Japan, or the Affiction. Finally, be at the top events of the world.
 

I suppose it depends on what Arona has been up to during the past 2 years in regards to training and what not.  He says he has been training and, but training and training for fights in particular are very different in my opinion.  Also, the light heavyweight top ten has changed drastically since then and I'm just not sure his game will have evolved.  He's always been a very strong grappler, but is that enough nowadays to compete against the best light heavyweights in the world?