Ricardo Arona (13-5) has not fought since a devastating knockout loss to Sokoudjou at Pride 34: Kamikaze. Shortly after that fight Zuffa (the UFC's parent company) bought out Pride FC and Bushido from DSE.Fighters who Arona had competed against and beaten began to sign with organizations soon after. Arona for some strange reason was not one of the fighters who the UFC decided to sign. With all of Arona's ground and pound skills his style seemed tailor made for fighting in the Octagon. Even in a recent interview with Sherdog.com he said "The UFC rules were made for me."
Arona may now be a step closer to returning to the ring instead of the cage as a source close to URDirt.com are telling us Affliction is looking into signing Arona for their October 11 "Day of Reckoning" card at the Thomas and Mack center in Las Vegas. Our source told us the signing of Arona would not only improve the division's depth, but also make sure it would have plenty of top notch fighters and make it as deep as the heavyweight division. Arona's signing is a move to bolster the roster for a potential Tito Ortiz signing. To ensure they would have top contenders for him if and when they made a belt for 205 pound fighters.
"They (Affliction) want the best (fighters) in the world they can get right now and Arona is one of the best unsigned fighters around. He has wins over Wanderlei Silva and Dan Henderson and he held his own against Fedor, that says a lot about the guys skill."
We were also told that Arona has not been contacted yet, but will be soon and offered a three fight non-exclusive deal. As we are beginning to see Affliction add quality fighters such as Vladimir Matyushenko and Roy Nelson this comes as little surprise as the company continues to add depth and spare no expense to do so. As usual we will let you know if and when anything becomes official.
