The best forgotten MMA fighters

I'll start off with Ricardo Arona. Today he's generally only remembered by casual fans as that guy who was highlight reel slam KO'd by Rampage Jackson but in a fairly short time in the sport he had an excellent career. Originally a high international level BJJ competitor, he was matched extremely tough to start out. In his 2nd fight in the RINGs promotion he beat the very experienced Jeremy Horn, in his 3rd fight arguably came close to giving Fedor his 1st legit loss. He beat Horn again before embarking on a great run in PRIDE FC with wins over Dan Henderson, Guy Mezger and Ninja Rua. The highlight was his performance in the 2005 Pride MW gp, beating Dean Lister in qualifiers, in the quarterfinal he gave the aging Sakuraba the worst beating of his entire career. The big shocker was him dominating Wanderlei Silva who was the huge favourite in the tournament . Silva at the time was thought of as an unbeatable fighter in the Pride MW division. Arona was the only fighter to ever beat Silva in a MW contest under pure Pride rules. This fight marked the peak of the bitter Chute Boxe vs Brazillian Top Team rivalry. Later that day he was quickly knocked out by Shogun Rua, who himself had a very easy match in semis vs Overeem. He then lost the rematch with Silva for the Pride MW title via a controversial razor thin SD. He finished off his career with a stoppage win over Overeem, an upset Ko loss to Soukajou and win vs Marvin Eastman.

 

That's a good one, certainly one of the more accomplished fighters of the 00s that goes under the radar. Beat Kang and Akiyama when they were being hyped to the hills. Also beat a prime Hendo. Some other quality scalps on his resume too. His wars with Jorge Santiago were amazing and definitely a must watch.

 

Guy Mezger- Compared to the the Whites, Williams and Bohlanders, probably the best of the Shamrock's lion den products. Gave Tito his first loss and only submission loss until Liam Mcgeary subbed a shot Tito a couple years ago (I consider the Shamrock stoppage as more of a tko). Some other pretty good wins on his resume too, was always a very tough fighter to beat.

 

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