Phil Baroni (born April 16, 1976) is an American mixed martial arts fighter. He has a professional MMA record of 13-10-0. Baroni has fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) where he holds a record of 3-5-0.
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.
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.
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.







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