[quote=@Fallenreaper]
<Snipped quote by Luminosity>

Careful you don't get stuck in that age old trap of trying to cover too much, not everything should or have to be accounted for in the arena. Namely as you can chose your opponent and determine if they are good fit with their equipment, items and other aspects before you take them on. After all, most arena battles are about the fun rather than winning or being able to take on anything. Many people forget this in the end when it comes to the competition aspect since none of the fight results are plotting out and no one wants their PC to die/lose miserably. 
[/quote]

Actually, the last thing anyone has ever done in the entire of history is completely disregard ranged weaponry, you can choose to if you want to die a terrible death, but having a contingency for a ranged weapon is perfectly reasonable. You're right in that having a way of fighting absolutely everything would be unrealistic and fighting through difficult situations is a fun learning experience, but you're already going to be facing tonnes of different types of weapons with different reach, armour piercing, ease of use, perhaps even types of magic. The last thing you want to do is come undone the moment you fight a ranged opponent.