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Ricardo Arona

Ricardo Arona is a decorated grappler and fighter, a man with victories over multiple world champions, a Pride tournament finalist, a world-class jiu-jitsu artist. But I remember him as the center of innumerable mid-2000s MMA arguments on the internet. THE UFC IS GARBAGE, people would say; PRIDE'S RULESET MAKES IT THE BEST, YOU DON'T GET WRESTLERS LAYING ON PEOPLE AND BORING EVERYONE TO DEATH.

And inevitably, the response would be OKAY, BUT RICARDO ARONA, THOUGH.

Arona was a childhood student of judo and karate who, like so many other Brazilian teenagers in the early 90s, fell in love with vale tudo and jiu-jitsu. He was an immediate standout, a thoroughly technical grappler who swept local and state championships and went on a legendarily undefeated run across three years of ADCC, winning three championships--one in the impossibly tough Absolute Division--and one superfight victory. He started his MMA career at the same time, fighting in RINGS in Japan and making his way into the 2000 King of Kings tournament. He'd have the first controversy of his career there, losing a contentious decision after controlling the majority of the fight with his positional grappling--ground and pound to the head wasn't allowed--but being threatened with a handful of chokes. That loss was to then little-known Fedor Emelianenko.

He entered Pride in 2001, and his career was a combination of incredible and deeply frustrating. He'd repeatedly build himself up only to get shut down by a hot prospect--his first 3-0 run was ended by the famous Rampage powerbomb, his second 4-0 run stopped in the finals of the 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix by the stomps of Shogun Rua, his dominant win over Alistair Overeem followed by a stunning knockout loss against Sokoudjou. But people win and lose, and Arona won far, far more than he lost, eventually retiring at 14-5. His problem was never skill--it was style.

To the mass audience, Arona was boring as hell. In a division characterized by the wild aggression of Wanderlei Silva, the powerful slams of Quinton Jackson and the inventive grappling of Kazushi Sakuraba, Ricardo Arona was a blanket. He was one of the best in the world at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and in 14 wins he only submitted two people. His style was a slow, grinding death, and he basked in it, often to the point of self-sabotage--most infamously when, in fighting Sakuraba, he injured him not through strikes or submissions but by putting him on the ground and prying into the cuts on his face with his fingertips. Like many fighters across the history of the sport he was technically incredible but deeply unmarketable. And it cost him decisions against Fedor Emelianenko and Wanderlei Silva--cost him world championships.

Arona only fought once after Pride folded, a decision win over Marvin Eastman in 2009. He turned down the UFC and, years later, Bellator. He says to this day he'll come back to mixed martial arts, but only when he's ready and the time is right. He'll be 40 in 2018. It's probably safe to say he has surfed his way into retirement.

Moveset, stats, logic and four attires (Pride: Critical Countdown 2005 vs Sakuraba / Pride: Shockwave 2005 vs Wanderlei / RINGS: King of Kings 2000 vs Fedor / ADCC 2001 Finals vs Jean-Jacques Machado). Not happy with the face on this one. Also, there is only so much you can do to stat out a character to win fights but rarely stop people.