Phil Baroni
 |
Name | Phil Baroni |
| Nickname | New York Badass | |
| Association | Hammer House | |
| Weight Class | Middleweight (185 lbs.) / Welterweight (170 lbs.) | |
| Height | 5' 11" (181 cm) | |
| Style | Boxing, Wrestling | |
| Birth Date | April 16, 1976 | |
| Fighting Out Of | Long Island, New York | |
| Country | USA | |
| Phil Baroni Pictures | Official Website |
Phil Baroni is an American mixed martial artist who competed as a Middleweight, but dropped to Welterweight for some fights. Baroni has fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Besides his stint in the UFC, he has fought for PRIDE, Strikeforce, and EliteXC. He has developed a reputation for his Boxing ability and knockout power, although he is an accomplished wrestler as well. He formerly trained with Team Hammer House, whose members include two PRIDE fighters and former UFC Heavyweight Champions, Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman.
In January 2011, Baroni signed a two-fight deal with Titan Fighting Championships.
Contents |
Professional Record
| Record | 14 - 15 - 0 (Win – Loss – Draw) |
| Wins | 9 (T)KOs 2 Submissions 3 Decisions |
| Losses | 5 (T)KOs 2 Submissions 8 Decisions |
| Result | Opponent | Method | Event Title | Date | Round | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | Chris Holland | TKO (Punches) | ROF 43: Bad Blood | 6/2/20123 | 2 | 2:50 | |
| Loss | Yoshiyuki Yoshida | Decision (Unanimous) | One Fighting Championship: Champion vs. Champion | 9/3/2011 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Nick Nolte | Decision (Unanimous) | Titan Fighting Championships 17 | 3/25/2011 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Loss | Brad Tavares | KO (Punches) | UFC 125: Resolution | 1/01/2011 | 1 | 4:20 | Released by UFC following loss |
| Loss | Amir Sadollah | Decision (Unanimous) | UFC 106: Ortiz vs. Griffin II | 11/21/2009 | 3 | 5:00 | Return to UFC after 4 year absence |
| Loss | Joe Riggs | Decision (Unanimous) | Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields | 6/06/2009 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Olaf Alfonso | Decision (Unanimous) | PFC 10: Explosive | 9/26/2008 | 3 | 3:00 | |
| Win | Ron Verdadero | TKO (Punch) | Icon Sport: Hard Times | 8/02/2008 | 1 | 0:51 | |
| Win | Scott Jansen | KO (Punch) | CR 27: Step Up | 7/12/2008 | 1 | 3:18 | Welterweight debut; Jansen took fight on three weeks notice |
| Loss | Joey Villasenor | TKO (Punches) | EliteXC: Primetime | 5/31/2008 | 1 | 1:11 | |
| Loss | Kala Hose | TKO (Punches) | Icon Sport: Baroni vs. Hose | 3/15/2008 | 5 | 1:45 | For vacant Icon Sport Middleweight Championship |
| Loss | Frank Shamrock | Technical Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | Strikeforce and EliteXC: Shamrock vs. Baroni | 6/22/2007 | 2 | 4:00 | For first-ever Strikeforce Middleweight Championship |
| Win | Yosuke Nishijima | Technical Submission (Kimura) | PRIDE 32: The Real Deal | 10/21/2006 | 1 | 3:20 | |
| Loss | Kazuo Misaki | Decision (Unanimous) | PRIDE Bushido 11 | 6/04/2006 | 2 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Yuki Kondo | KO (Punch) | PRIDE Bushido 10 | 4/02/2006 | 1 | 0:25 | |
| Loss | Ikuhisa Minowa | Decision (Unanimous) | PRIDE Bushido 9 | 9/25/2005 | 2 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Ryo Chonan | KO (Punch) | PRIDE Bushido 8 | 7/17/2005 | 1 | 1:40 | |
| Win | Ikuhisa Minowa | TKO (Stomps) | PRIDE Bushido 7 | 5/22/2005 | 2 | 2:04 | |
| Win | Chris Cruit | Submission (Armbar) | EFC 11: Extreme Fighting Challenge 11 | 3/05/2005 | 2 | N/A | |
| Loss | Pete Sell | Submission (Guillotine Choke) | UFC 51: Super Saturday | 2/05/2005 | 3 | 4:19 | After the loss, Baroni left the UFC |
| Loss | Evan Tanner | Decision (Unanimous) | UFC 48: Payback | 6/19/2004 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Loss | Evan Tanner | TKO (Punches) | UFC 45: Revolution | 11/21/2003 | 1 | 4:42 | |
| Loss | Matt Lindland | Decision (Unanimous) | UFC 41: Onslaught | 2/28/2003 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Dave Menne | KO (Punches) | UFC 39: The Warriors Return | 9/27/2002 | 1 | 0:18 | |
| Win | Amar Suloev | TKO (Punches) | UFC 37: High Impact | 5/10/2002 | 1 | 2:55 | |
| Loss | Matt Lindland | Decision (Majority) | UFC 34: High Voltage | 11/02/2001 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Robert Sarkozi | TKO | WMMAA 1: MegaFights | 8/10/2001 | 1 | 1:05 | |
| Win | Curtis Stout | Decision (Unanimous) | UFC 30: Battle on the Boardwalk | 2/23/2001 | 2 | 5:00 | |
| Win | John Hayes | TKO | VATV 9: Vengeance at the Vanderbilt 9 | 8/05/2000 | 1 | 0:35 | |
Biography
Phil Baroni grew up in Massapequa Park, Long Island, New York. Baroni attended Hofstra University before transferring to Central Michigan University where he became a two time All-American collegiate wrestler. Baroni was a double major in biology and psychology, and earned his degree in psychology. He was also an amateur bodybuilder from the age of 17 to 20 where he competed in a total of six shows in which he placed either first or second.
Baroni had a successful amateur boxing and kick-boxing career. He studied kick-boxing under Keith Trimble, and had 7 kick-boxing matches, winning all by knock out. He also competed in 10 amateur boxing matches, also winning all 10 by knock out. Although Baroni was a big fan of the UFC he did not want to compete in it until the UFC had implemented Weight classes.
Mixed Martial Arts Career
UFC Career
Baroni quickly made a name for himself in the UFC with several impressive knockout victories. His signature match was a decisive knockout victory over former UFC champion Dave Menne on September 27, 2002. Phil famously jumped on the top of the cage and proclaimed himself to be "The Best Eva!" after the knockout of Menne.
He then rematched Matt Lindland to whom he had previously lost to by judges decision. In their rematch, Baroni suffering a second loss to Lindland by another judges decision. He was then matched up against a former teammate of Matt Lindland, Evan Tanner at UFC 45: Revolution. Baroni dominated the beginning of the match against Tanner, but when the fight was stopped to check a cut on Tanner, Tanner regained his composure and the momentum turned, leading to the referee stopping the fight due to Baroni taking several undefended strikes on the ground. This decision was controversial as the referee Larry Landless had asked Baroni if he wanted to quit which he did not. Landless still stopped the bout, and was struck by a furious Baroni who wished to continue. Baroni was subsequently suspended for 4 months for striking the official.
Upon his return Baroni got a rematch with Tanner at UFC 48: Payback but went on to lose via decision. Despite losing 3 fights in a row, the UFC matched Baroni against the relatively unknown Pete Sell. Following training with Enson Inoue, Baroni dominated early on with numerous takedowns and a dominate standup, however, Sell caught him in a Guillotine Choke and Baroni appeared to lose consciousness, but then tapped out for the only time in his career thereby ending the fight. Following this loss many people told him to retire, including Dana White.
PRIDE Career
Baroni joined Hammer House soon thereafter and rebounded in Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championships promotion with several knockout victories against Ikuhisa Minowa, Ryo Chonan, and Yuki Kondo. On June 4, 2006, Baroni was summarily defeated by Ikuhisa Minowa via unanimous decision in the Bushido Welterweight Grand Prix 183 lb (83 kg) tournament in 2005.
On October 21, 2006 Baroni captured a victory over boxer turned MMA fighter Yosuke Nishijima via Kimura in the first round at PRIDE 32, PRIDE's first American show.
Feud with Frank Shamrock
Frank Shamrock and Baroni had engaged in a war of words following Shamrock's fight with Renzo Gracie. The two faced off at Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Baroni, a co-promotion between EliteXC and Strikeforce on June 22, 2007 on Pay-Per-View. Shamrock defeated Baroni, knocking him down with punches in the first round and finishing him off with a Rear Naked Choke in the second round. It was ruled a TKO victory for Shamrock as Baroni was choked unconscious.
Steroid Use
Following the Shamrock fight the California State Athletic Commission announced that Baroni tested positive for two types of anabolic steroids, Boldenone and Stanozolol. Baroni has appealed against the $2500 fine and faced a one year suspension. Ultimately, the fine was upheld although the suspension was reduced to six months.
Baroni had asked that the remaining urine from the test conducted by Quest be sent to the Carlson Company, a laboratory located in Colorado Springs, Colo. While it didn't appear among the 40 facilities recommended by the CSAC, Carlson appealed to the fighter as a rare lab that tested for both DNA and steroids.
There wasn't enough of a sample for the lab to determine the identity of its owner, though Carlson apparently had enough to determine the sample they received from Quest did not contain boldenone or stanozolol.
"We don't know why he tested positive with Quest Laboratories in California," said Baroni's manager Ken Pavia. "But we do know that subsequent tests with that sample came back negative."
ICON Sport
Baroni faced Hawaii's Kala Hose on March 15, 2008 for the vacant ICON Sport Middleweight title. Former champion Robbie Lawler was stripped of the title due to his inability to defend it on numerous occasions. While Baroni came out strong during the first round of the fight, his stamina began to fade and Hose started to dominate the fight. Hose ultimately defeated Baroni by TKO early in the fifth round to become the new ICON Sport middleweight champion.
EliteXC
Baroni went up against Joey Villasenor in the first ever live network television broadcast of MMA on CBS. In the beginning of the fight Baroni looked really active and caught Villasenor's high kick which brought him down to the mat where Baroni threw a couple punches from guard. Baroni then let Villasenor stand up, Baroni then got tagged a couple times and was put into a guillotine choke. Villasenor then let go of the choke and started unloading unanswered punches that dazed Baroni prompting the referee to stop the fight at the 1:11 mark of the opening round. This was Baroni's third TKO loss in a row.
Move to Welterweight
As first revealed by Phil Baroni himself on Sherdog forums, he was going to move down to fight as a welterweight.
Baroni made his Cage Rage and Welterweight debut at Cage Rage 27 on July 12th, against British fighter Scott Jansen. He begun the fight with a solid takedown, and came close to finishing the fight with a tight straight Armbar in which he appeared to hyper-extend Jansen's arm. Following a standup call from the referee the two fighters exchanged, Baroni throwing a hard right to the body followed by a right-handed haymaker which landed on Jansen's chin. Jansen dropped heavily, his head bouncing off the floor.
Afterward, Baroni went to check on Jansen and was blindsided by a brother of the flattened fighter that had made his way into the cage with the Brit's cornermen. Holding up his hands to fend off a headbutt, Baroni kept his cool and the encounter didn't escalate.
He would go back to Hawaii for his next fight against Ron Verdadero, knocking out his opponent at 0:51 in the first round. Baroni then fought for the relatively new promotion, Palace Fighting Championships, against WEC vetaran Olaf Alfonso, whom he defeated via unanimous decision.
He was then set to fight Joe Riggs at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields on June 6, 2009 in St.Lous, Missouri at Scottrade Center. The fight went the distance with Riggs winning the unanimous decision victory. The fight would be his last with Strikeforce as it was learned in August of 2009 that Baroni had been released from his obligations to the promotion.
- “We wish Phil the best of luck and hope he can revive his career,’’ said Strikeforce President Scott Coker in a press release on Thursday. “If he can, maybe one day, he can return and fight for us.”
Baroni was released from his contract, so that he could sign another contract with Strikeforce's challengers series, but Baroni did not want to fight for less money, and when the UFC came knocking, he signed a contract that would return to the UFC.
Return to the UFC
When returning to the UFC, Baroni had not stepped inside the octagon since 2005. His first fight back was scheduled against The Ultimate Fighter 7 winner Amir Sadollah on November 21, 2009 at UFC 106: Ortiz vs. Griffin II. Sadollah defeated Baroni via unanimous decision. After a collarbone injury forced him off of UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn 2, Baroni returned to fight The Ultimate Fighter 11: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz Semifinalist Brad Tavares at UFC 125: Resolution. After being knocked out in the first round, Baroni was released from the UFC.
Return to Middleweight
After starting off his Welterweight career winning three fights in a row, Baroni then dropped two consecutive fights to Joe Riggs and Amir Sadollah. When it was learned that Baroni would return to action at UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn 2 in Boston, Massachusetts, it was also announced that Baroni would be returning to Middleweight for the fight.
- "I’m going to go back up to 185 for this fight...The cut [to welterweight] was rough; I think I made the cut wrong the last couple times I made the weight (to 170). I lost some strength and I lost some of my speed and explosiveness and I think those are some of my strengths. So I think that in the future if I made the cut again I would do it slower and go about it a different way. But right now I’m more focused on getting my strength and power back and getting my explosiveness back and in order to do that I’m going to have to gain weight."
The bout was to be against John Salter, but Baroni was injured and was forced to pull out of the fight. He was replaced by Dan Miller.
Personal Life
Phil and his girlfriend, Angela, were married on October 12, 2008.
