Hello mainstream media! Meet Phil Baroni
May 17, 2008 by Sam Caplan
Despite having lost two consecutive fights, EliteXC middleweight fighter Phil Baroni is just as feisty as ever.
Baroni, who will try to snap his losing streak during EliteXC’s first-ever CBS broadcast on May 31 in a middleweight bout against Joe Villasenor, did not hold back during a Thursday conference call to promote the event. For certain members of the mainstream media, it was their first introduction to Baroni.
The “New York Bad Ass” made it a memorable one.
“This interferes with my workout to listen to this bulls**t interview thing,” Baroni began during his opening statement. “What am I doing? I have no idea. What do you want? I’m sick of asking questions. It’s time to fight. I got my f***king mouthpiece in right now. Smokin’ Joe Villase?or owes me a knockout.”
Soon after, he went so far as to ask a female reporter what she was wearing. Later, one reporter made the bold decision to ask Baroni about his ground game.
“It f***ing blows, and it is not going to the ground,” Baroni answered bluntly. “Who cares about the ground game? Smokin’ Joe tries to stand and trade. You saw his last fight. He likes to bang. So, this is going to be a great fight. That’s why it’s on CBS.”
Villasenor concurred with Baroni’s self-appraisal.
“I think Baroni is right, his ground game does suck,” the East Los Angeles native rebutted. “I’m sure that’s what he wants, for us to bang it out where he has an opportunity win. I hope he doesn’t go down form shock because I’ll have to have to choke him out like Shamrock did.”
During the call, Baroni also indicated he would like to fight the winner of the EliteXC middleweight title bout between Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith that will be taking place the same night. While EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw made it clear that the winner of the Baroni vs. Villasenor fight will be a top contender to the title, he stopped short of guaranteeing the winner an immediate title shot.
Additionally, Baroni re-affirmed his desire to rematch Frank Shamrock.
“Of course I think about a rematch against Shamrock,” Baroni responded when asked if he was still interested in a rematch with the former Strikeforce middleweight champion. “I think about it every day. A day doesn’t go past I don’t think about it. Everyone watched the Cung Le fight saying, ‘Wow, Cung Le is this, is that. Wow, Shamrock should have had him.’ I was watching the fight thinking, ‘I can’t believe I lost to this bum.’ I can’t believe this guy got a ‘W’ over me.”
But not all the questions posed to Baroni pertained to past, present, and future fights. One member of the media wanted to know if Baroni bought a new car after signing with EliteXC.
“We’ll see,” answered Baroni. “We’ll see. Gary’s (Shaw) is talking s**t about Dana White, and all this crap. Where’s my car, Gary? Hook me up.”
Towards the end of the call, Baroni’s antics prompted one reporter to ask Shaw if a seven-second delay would be used during the CBS telecast for Baroni.
“Baroni will be a 30-minute delay,” Shaw quipped.
Excellent title. And it’s at the point where the talking only gets him so far. You need to actually win an occasional fight to keep getting attention. In fact I’m going to watch that Hose fight again and laugh at it’s awesomeness.
Totally off topic, other than Baroni being with Strikeforce…
Does anyone know how the next Strikeforce show is going to be televised? PPV? Sho? Internet?
Thanks much.
Baroni isn’t a real fighter. He’s a wrestler that can hit very hard. After a fight, he stops training. If he was serious, he’d be back to the gym after a 2 week holiday or whatever. Baroni will stop training for months if he doesn’t have a fght lined up. That’s the biggest thing I dislike about him. I don’t care that he’s a dumb shit. I just like real MMA guys. Imagine a guy like GSP or other stopping training because they have no fight lined up? It would never happen. Baroni’s a bum.
Melendez/Thomson? I don’t believe they have a tv deal as far as I know. So one would assume internet or nothing.
#2
June 27th Melendez v Thompson, if u by chance live in Cali tickets arent very expensive and it should be a great fight (main event wise)
Baroni is a very entertaining quote~able s.o.b, and he also have one of the best knockouts eva (Dave Menne up against the cage…. brutal) but he needs to shut up and fight Villasenõr and not gass after 2 and half minutes of fighting, or he shout go back to Japan they always liked his antics
Strikeforce : Melendez VS Thomson will be shown live on HDNET friday june 27.
baroni is always fun to watch!!!!!!!
At least Baroni is good at a couple of things……..He’s arrogant and sure can run his mouth and is GREAT at making excuses as to why he lost. He needs something to be marketable because at best he is an average striker, I would’nt call him an mma fighter because the only discipline he knows is striking.
In his own words, Baroni is the best eva. He’s the fucking man, the best eva!!!!
Go away Baroni. You suck!!!!!!!!!!! Why would anyone be interested in a loser that the UFC dumped because he could not beat another loser named Pete Sell?
Baroni is an average MMA fighter without his juice.
Just imagine if Phil only had some Cardio..I love his antics, the fight game will only have one Phil Baroni one of a kind…he’s hilarious…
natural born scrap mouth and loser but he is entertaining……
Phil has the right idea. He definitely milks the pro-wrestling heel persona for all it’s worth. I don’t doubt that he could rack more wins if he decided to play it safe and boring, but the guy realizes the best bet for a mid-level fighter is to remain entertaining. That’s one thing about him: win or lose, you rarely see a boring Baroni fight. And that’s worth something, Mr. Pastore (#9).
I’d say Baroni has an amazing ground game. He’s frequently amazed when he wakes up on the ground with the ref standing over him.
@# 13:
Ya, but you play that role too much, you turn into Tank Abbott.
i have never seen the N.Y BADASS in a boring fight , win or lose it will be entertaining.
OddTom, I never said he was boring, only a loser. And he is that…A LOSER!!!!!