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Report: Ricardo Arona In Talks With The UFC

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From Tatame:

"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", Arona revealed, exclusively to TATAME.com. "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".

Dana White said he didn't want Arona back in April '09, but that was before Arona made a successful return to MMA by defeating MMA veteran Marvin Eastman in Sept. '09.  However, Arona has reportedly suffered some injuries since that bout.  Arona was once one of MMA's best light heavyweights holding notable wins over Wanderlei Silva, Alistair Overeem, Murila Rua, Dan Henderson, and even lost a very close decision to Fedor Emelianenko way back in 2000.  It's interesting now that the UFC has changed their tune if this report is true, and Arona has repeatedly said that his style was made for cage fighting.  Of course he fought in a ring while in PRIDE, so maybe we'll get to find out soon enough.  I would think Strikeforce would definitely be interested in someone like Arona to help beef up that very thin light heavyweight division.  Which may be the reason the UFC is showing interest now?