Who is the 2022 Ricardo Arona?

[Patman]

In terms of grappling prowess and banging 10's, the closest is probably Rockhold.

Except Luke has zero charisma and Arona is pretty much Razor Ramon.

 

[HindustaniKush]

@ LHW Jailton Almeida is by far the best bet. Not saying much as LHW grappling (and HW grappling) is utter dogshite these days. Both Brazilian too

An underrated part of Aronas game were also his leg kicks. some of the best ever in MMA and he was even throwing calf kicks back in the mid 00s when these nerds thought it was just invented a few years ago lmaoooo

Unpopular opinion


Arona beat Wanderlei in their rematch but Pride paid off the judges to give it to Wanderlei by split decision. They would not like the idea that Wanderlei have 2 losses to Arona the rematch also had the belt on the line.

Arona also beat Fedor if you go by unified rule judging scoring.

What makes Arona so cool is that he was a great fighter, jacked, banged 10s, parties and surfed. He was the guy who did it all and had pro fights on his record. He rarely finished people but he was dominant!

In other words we all wish we could be an Arona have 20 or so pro fights leave with a 14 and 5 record or should of really been 16 and 4. And could retire still leaving people wondering "what if he stayed?"

 

[Yrat]

Unpopular opinion


Arona beat Wanderlei in their rematch but Pride paid off the judges to give it to Wanderlei by split decision. They would not like the idea that Wanderlei have 2 losses to Arona the rematch also had the belt on the line.

Arona also beat Fedor if you go by unified rule judging scoring.

What makes Arona so cool is that he was a great fighter, jacked, banged 10s, parties and surfed. He was the guy who did it all and had pro fights on his record. He rarely finished people but he was dominant!

In other words we all wish we could be an Arona have 20 or so pro fights leave with a 14 and 5 record or should of really been 16 and 4. And could retire still leaving people wondering "what if he stayed?"

How do you know about the Girls?

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Phil Davis is probably the closest, strong takedowns and top control, not very much power in the hands but good low kicks.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Arona had the best low kicks I have ever seen, kicked Overeem and Wanderlei off their feet, you don't see kicks like that anymore.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

Idk that anyone could do what Arona did again. Not a single point? The gods smiled on that man, bc that shit is crazy.

He didn't have as strong of a resume as Arona, but my old coach David Terrell never had a point scored on him in grappling competition. I'm not trying to compare the 2 though lol Just like to bring him up whenever I get a chance

 

[Bobby Boulders]

He didn't have as strong of a resume as Arona, but my old coach David Terrell never had a point scored on him in grappling competition. I'm not trying to compare the 2 though lol Just like to bring him up whenever I get a chance

Dude had real talent, I remember him.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

that’s a silly perspective. All of the greats give up points. It’s an impressive feat.
It’s like saying sure nobody is laying a glove on pernell or willie pep or Floyd but they’re not knocking everybody out. And those guys still dropped rounds.
You Just discard 90% of the sport. And say meh. This is why sherdog entertains

I'd say it adds context.

Like when Shamrock stayed in Royce's guard for a few dozen minutes. Hell ya it was impressive especially for the time period...OTOH Shamrock only pulled it off because he didn't do anything.

(timestamped)


(NOTE rumor has it that Schultz also managed to pull the same thing on Rickson in a session - he didn't get subbed, but only because he stayed inactive in guard the entire time).

Arona controlled fights and grappling contests. And I'd say that rarely getting subs in a sub contest is easily the second most important factoid after, he never got a point scored against him

And both facts together show a more complete perspective than either fact alone.

 

[TheNinja]

The guy had awful hands and posture though. Very very stiff. Chin straight up when attacking.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

The guy had awful hands and posture though. Very very stiff. Chin straight up when attacking.

But that's what made it so fun and amazing and fascinating and interesting!

He finally paid the price. But for the prior 8 years, all anyone could say before each fight was "he's gonna get his block knocked off with that posture!" And it almost never happened, heh.

 

[Bobble Head]

Arona is a legend, with great performances against many mma legends… but he was stuck being remembered by so many from being powerbombed by rampage.

modern day, not sure who most replicates his fighting style.

You are not wrong unfortunately. Even Cormier laughed about Rampage powerbombing “some guy” once and said how that dude must really suck.

Arona was a beast and it’s a shame that his place in MMA is that in a lot of people’s eyes.

EDIT: didn’t realize I quoted a comment from so long ago, lol.

 

[mjfan23]

The guy had awful hands and posture though. Very very stiff. Chin straight up when attacking.

If that shogun kick landed. It would have been icing on the greatest tourney win ever

 

[Flower2dPeople]

Arona is famous for not getting scored on. Until Shogun got an advantage with the omoplata.