By Guilherme Cruz

Photo Eduardo Ferreira

Ricardo Arona has fought only once on the last five years, when he defeated Marvin Eastman at Bitetti Combat and the fans hope to see a little more of the “Brazilian Tiger” in action.

Reports said Arona would have signed a contract with Satoshi Ishii in March, in Sao Paulo, but the fighter denied the information when talking to TATAME.

“People talked to me about fighting in Japanese events, Americans and even Brazilians, but I didn’t sign anything. I didn’t even talk to them. My prediction is to fight in the middle of the year, now I’m just worried about finishing my training center”, explains the fighter who currently trains at his house, in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro.

“I keep myself healthy and physically prepared, I’m not training anything specific or nothing, that’s actually why I’m not signing for any fight until then. It’s a matter of months for me to get in shape… I want it”, guarantees Arona, without picking events to fight at.

“I’ll chose the best proposal. To me, the best thing would be to fight on an international event because I have the goal of fighting in the UFC, but fighting in Brazil is also good”.

While he doesn’t know about his future on the rings, Ricardo will be at the backstage of UFC Rio following all his friends’ bouts on the event. And he’s pretty confident about a Brazilian show.

“Jose Aldo is a guy we really believe that will win for what he’s been presenting, especially because he’s moved to be fighting in Brazil. He’ll have the fans backing him up”, bets Arona, cheering for Belfort. “Vitor has a hard one to fight now, but he’s much focused. Here in Brazil, defending his country, we get twice as strong”.