Phil Baroni

Philip George Baroni (April 16, 1976) is an American former mixed martial artist, kickboxer, boxer, and professional wrestler.

Baroni competed in the UFC, PRIDE, Strikeforce, Cage Rage, DREAM, EliteXC, Bellator MMA, BKFC, and ONE FC.

As of January 2023, Phil Baroni is detained in Valle de Banderas, Mexico, over an alleged murder of his girlfriend.

Baroni was born Phillip George Baroni in Massapequa Park in Long Island, New York to American parents.

His father was a prominent New York attorney and his mother was a homemaker.

Phillip attended Massapequa High School where he was on the wrestling team.

Baroni grew up having multiple street fights, a precursor to his career.

The Baronis were next door neighbors of Jerry Seinfeld's parents.

Baroni attended Nassau Community College and became a two time All-American wrestler there, placing fifth and second in the nation.

However, during the later part of his senior year he was expelled.

Baroni then attended Hofstra University before transferring to Central Michigan University on a scholarship, where he was a double major in biology and psychology.

He was also an amateur bodybuilder from the age of 17 to 20, competing in six shows, in which he placed either first or second.

He studied kickboxing under Keith Trimble, and had seven matches, winning all by knockout.

He also competed in 10 amateur boxing matches, also winning all 10 by knockout.

Baroni debuted in the UFC in only his second professional fight, at UFC 30 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The bout was against fellow striking specialist Curtis Stout, and Baroni won by unanimous decision.

Baroni was an undefeated 3-0 before getting his second fight with the UFC at UFC 34 against Matt Lindland, whom Baroni would develop a rivalry with later in their careers.

Baroni lost the fight by decision, and was handed his first professional loss.

However, Baroni would then quickly make a name for himself in the UFC with several impressive stoppage victories.

His signature win was a decisive KO victory over former UFC Middleweight Champion Dave Menne on September 27, 2002.

Baroni famously jumped on the top of the cage and proclaimed himself to be the "best eva" after the knockout of Menne.

Baroni then rematched Matt Lindland to whom he had previously lost to by judges' decision.

In their rematch, Baroni suffered a second loss to Lindland by another judges' decision.

He was then matched up against a teammate of Matt Lindland, future UFC Middleweight Champion 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.

Baroni said he believed he was asked if he wanted to continue, and said "yes".

Landless stopped the bout, and was struck by a furious Baroni.

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 three 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 dominant standup, however, Sell secured a guillotine choke and Baroni appeared to lose consciousness, but then tapped out for the first time in his career thereby ending the fight.

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, whom he had developed a rivalry with, via unanimous decision in the Bushido Welterweight Grand Prix 183 lb tournament in 2005.

On October 21, 2006 Baroni captured a victory over boxer turned mixed martial artist Yosuke Nishijima via kimura in the first round at PRIDE 32, PRIDE's first American show.

In the post-fight interview Baroni humorously admitted that he did not know the name of the hold he applied and only saw it on television a couple days before the fight.

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 technical submission victory for Shamrock as Baroni was choked unconscious before he could tap.