Issue 038

June 2008

Phil ‘The New York Bad Ass’ Baroni is known as one of the hardest-punching middleweights in the world, and has a career record that has seen him knock numerous fighters unconscious with flying fists and feet in both the UFC and Pride Fighting Championships.

The outspoken fighter is currently training in Las Vegas with the likes of Wanderlei Silva and also heads over to the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose. “Those guys spar real hard over there and I’m accustomed to hard sparring. I’m going to San Jose and getting some hard sparring and I’m going to be 100% for Ninja [Rua].”

What do you remember of your early UFC fight with Amar Suloev?

He’s a real good striker, a talented fighter. He threw some big shots early, he hit me with a flying knee and kicked me in the head. He was definitely a handful, I had to dig deep in that fight in order to come away with the win.

What do you remember about the punches at end?

I was trying to kill him! I didn’t want him to get back up, I had him down. I had just escaped an armbar, he cranked my arm out. My arm was hurting, I had him against the fence and I wanted to end it right there, I didn’t want to fight with him anymore, I wanted to knock him out – and I did.

How are things between you and Frank Shamrock?

I don’t like Frank Shamrock at all. I respect him as a fighter, because he’s a great fighter and he knows how to compete, but I think he’s full of shit in more ways than one. I don’t respect him as a person, I think he’s a liar, not a good guy, he’s a scumbag. I’m definitely a better fighter than him and I think that if I ever fought him again, I would knock him out. I’d love that rematch with him – 99 out of a hundred times I’d knock him out.

What happened in your most recent fight against Kala Kolohe Hose on the ICON promotion?

I rushed into that fight on four weeks notice, misjudged my conditioning and I misjudged his toughness. The first round is how the rest of the fight would go if I was in top shape, but unfortunately I didn’t have any gas in the tank. It doesn’t matter if you’re racing a Ferrari, if you run out of gas, you’re going to lose to a Volkswagen bug, and that’s just what happened that night. If I had somebody exhausted in front of me for four rounds, I don’t think they would last long. 

How do you think you match up with Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua?

I think I’m a stronger athlete, I think I’m faster than him and with my wrestling I can keep the fight where I want it and let my hands go. I’m more durable than he is and I can dish out a lot more punishment than he can. So I feel real confident. We’ll see what he does. I’m not worried about him on the ground, he’s not getting on top of me, that’s for sure. My wrestling is too good for him.

I recently saw you quoted as saying, ‘All men want to be me and all women want to be with me.’ Why do you think that is?

Well, we can ask this girl sitting right next to me why she’d want to be with me, I don’t know why, but they do…

[Passes phone to his female companion]

Why do I like to be with him? Because he’s big everywhere… 

Eventually, we all die – when that day comes, what do you want written to describe you on your headstone?

Ah man, that’s a tough one. Basically that I was honest, hard-working and I showed my spirit and soul in the ring, and that’s how I lived my life – straight forward, pulling no punches, what you see is what you get.