With chip on shoulder, Ring of Fire 43's Phil Baroni 'back to my old self'

Sat Jun 02, 2012 6:04 pm

If Phil Baroni is as good in the cage as he sounds on the radio, then fight fans in Colorado could be in for a treat tonight.

"If you're a fight fan, you're a Phil Baroni fan because I come to fight," Baroni told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) this week in preparation for his fight against Chris Holland tonight at Ring of Fire 43.

"I ain't here to lay and pray and put on a boring fight. You know you're going to get an exciting fight, and I'm going to lay it all on the line."

Baroni (14-14) and Holland (4-3) built up their "Bad Blood" matchup for the main event of ROF 43 — which takes place at 1stBANK Center in Broomfield, Colo., and airs live on Fight Now TV at 8:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m. MT local time) and streams at fightnow.com — on Twitter with a war of words.

Holland said the New Yorker got the best of him in social media, but Baroni dismissed the victory much like he did the Colorado-based fighter in general.

"I don't know much about this guy, and I couldn't care less," he said. "I'm going right through this guy on Saturday night."

The 36-year-old Baroni, who had his first pro fight 12 years ago, said he's in the best shape he's been in a long time. He stressed fans can expect to see the type of fighter who won three of his first four UFC bouts back in the early 2000s – instead of the guy who has lost four of his past five fights.

"My old injuries are healed," Baroni said. "I've had some surgeries. I've done some rehab. I feel 100-percent and I'm ready to go.

"I feel the best is yet to come. I feel like I should have felt in 2003."

Despite his recent woes, Baroni said he continues to fight for the loyal fans who have stayed by his side over his dozen years in the sport.

"I've won the fans over with all the years of putting on good shows," he said. "I'm real appreciative and grateful for it.

"I'm making my comeback. I'm not in the biggest show, I don't have the most publicity, and I don't have the UFC marketing monster machine behind me to promote me. I'm doing it all myself, and I have all my old loyal fans helping me and doing it with me."

Baroni — who trained with Randy Couture's team in Las Vegas, along with Dominick Cruz and his squad who were in Sin City while taping "The Ultimate Fighter Live," and of course his normal routine with members of American Kickboxing Academy — said he's fired up for this bout like he was in his "younger days."

"I tried to tone it down a little bit and tried to flip the switch and come out hard just for the fight," Baroni said. "But that doesn't work for me. I've had a chip on my shoulder the last couple of months, and I am back to my old self.

"I've had a really good camp. I'm coming in at 100-percent, guns blazing."

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