Focused on the knee recovery, injured in his last fight, Ricardo Arona is counting the days to be able to go back to his trainings. "I'm waiting the minimum time, there are two months left for my knee to heal," says the bounder to TATAME. In the exclusive interview, Arona spoke about the tragic storm that hit his city, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, and also about the closeness of the UFC and Abu Dhabi, where he got famous by winning the ADCC, analyzed the main fights of the UFC 112 with Anderson Silva, Demian Maia and Renzo Gracie, and answer to the new invitation to train at Wanderlei Silva’s academy, a former rival.

How are things in Niterói?

The rain is very strong. I’ve had problems, got stucked at my house, my telephone didn’t work.. I didn’t have a way out of Itacoatiara.

And the knee recovery, how is it going?

It’s how it’s supposed to be, I’m still working on it every day. I’m just waiting the minimum time prescribed by the doctors. They say it’ll take six months. Four of them are over, so there’s only two months left so my knee comes back to normal.

How are the expectations for your comeback?

I’m focused on healing my knee now. I hear a lot about the competitions, yesterday got a proposal, but I have to worry about my knee first so then I can think about doing business.

How do you feel about this approach of UFC to Abu Dhabi?

In my opinion, is the growth of the sport, the investors ... The MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world and it values the events, scholarships ... This is the growth of the sport. He do our part, investors do theirs.

And what do you think about the main fight of the night, Anderson against Demian?

Anderson has shown he is quite complete, but will now make a fight with a guy who has a very sharp ground and represents the Jiu-Jitsu very well. I think this is the time to show that he is good in the ground as standing, Anderson will be able to show his knowledge. In my opinion, this fight will unfold on the ground.

Do you think Demian will be able to take Anderson down?

That’s exactly the point... I believe he has practiced a lot to do so. If he can’t things will start to get complicated for him.

And about Renzo’s debut against Matt Hughes on UFC, what are your expectations?

I’m cheering a lot for Renzo... He’s at home there and I’m hoping for the best and that he’ll shake it up. Everyone knows Marr Hughes, knows his kind of game, but I bet on Jiu Jitsu. Hoping for Renzo to win.

In the April’s edition of TATAME Magazine, Wanderlei Silva has strengthened the invitation for you to train at his academy in Las Vegas ... What did you think about this?

He is a great example of how things change. Again I thank him for the invitation but, for now, that’s not what I have in mind, as a goal. I appreciate the opportunity that he’s offering me on his gym, but I don’t know what is to come.