Written by Ralph Gonzalez
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Thursday, May 22 2008
Phil Baroni's MMA career has had its up and downs, but as a 'trash talker' he's in a class by himself
“This interferes with my workout to listen to this bulls**t interview thing. What am I doing? I have no idea. What do you want? I'm sick of asking questions. It's time to fight,"? interrupted Phil “The New York Bad Ass"? Baroni as Gary Shaw fielded a question regarding the possible signing of Tito Ortiz to Elite XC during the recent teleconference to promote the program. “I got my f***king mouthpiece in right now. Smokin' Joe Villaseńor owes me a knockout."?
Phil “The New York Badass"? Baroni is an unstoppable force when it comes to the war of words. Smokin’ Joey Villasenor knows he can’t match him in that department so he’ll be trying to shut him up on Saturday May 31st as Elite XC brings mixed martial arts to mainstream America via CBS television.
Villasenor responded with everything he could but Baroni is hands down the best trash talker in MMA. The teleconference for the event slowly turned into a heated back and forth affair between the two excellent strikers which should make for some explosive action in the ring.
“Come on, this is ‘Phil the Mouth’ Baroni. Hands down, he is going to beat me in a words war, but he definitely has to deal with a lot of heart. I know I'm going into enemy territory, which totally gets me pumped. I know Baroni is going to have some family members there, and I'm excited, man. I'm actually shaking in my pants right now,"? said Villasenor when asked to react to Baroni’s comments. “I'm a little nervous right now, and Baroni has quite the mouth. I am not going to talk much. I respect Baroni. I respect the power. But, he says he doesn't get knocked out. We'll just have to test that out."?
“You are going to get knocked out, kid. Your best isn't going to be big enough,"? countered Baroni. “The bottom line is, this is my coming home party, and you're the victim."?
“Your coming out party, Phil? You've been out for a while. You've been exposed for a while,"? continued Villasenor. “I'll just have to show everybody on national television and expose you, expose you at home, expose you in front of everybody. I'm excited to get the opportunity."?
Baroni responded by saying that he’d ice “Smokin’"? Joe Villasenor.
“I respect you, man. But it's coming. It's coming. You know it's coming,"? sated Villasenor to Baroni very matter of factly. “I don't need to talk trash. You know what's coming. That's all there is to it."?
Baroni wasn’t planning to let Villasenor have the last word. Not by a long shot. “I ain't talking trash. I'm stating the facts, dude. I'm going to smash you and you'll get hurt real bad. Be ready. Try your best. Your best is not going to be good enough, and we'll send you back to Nashville."?
“You're getting me even more excited for this. I'm pumped. This is just what I needed,"? responded Villasenor. “I needed somebody to talk trash to me. This is the first time in 30 fights that I've had somebody treat me this way. Hey, thanks for the motivation."?
“You're welcome, buddy,"? said Baroni.
The topic was then changed to the quality of Baroni’s ground game. “It f***ing blows, and it is not going to the ground. Who cares about the ground game?"? said Baroni. “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. Who cares about a ground game anyway? Nobody wants to watch that s**t"?
Villaseńor fired back. “I think Baroni is right. His ground game does suck. I'm sure that's what he wants, for us to bang it out where he has an opportunity to win,"? said Smokin’ Joe “I hope he doesn't go down from shock because I'll have to have to choke him out like Shamrock did."?
“Yeah, hopefully. Villaseńor can't wrestle and he can't take me down,"? continued Baroni. “So, it's not going to the ground.
“I have power with movement. It's about executing,"? said Villasenor. “Overall, we all know that Baroni has stand‑up power, but I'm going to try to expose him with my movement. So, it's just all about executing.
“Basically to sum it up, Villaseńor is going to run. He basically just said that he (will) bring his track shoes and chase me. He's going to run,"? shot back Baroni. “It doesn't matter because in the cage you can run, but you can't hide. I'm going to find you, I'm going to hit and everyone's going to think about you."?
“I don’t really have a response to that. We all know that Baroni is getting me tangled into his game right now. This is where he wins every fight. Baroni wins every vocal fight,"? said Villasenor when asked to respond. “He is getting me a little pumped up and a little pissed off, but I'm not going to fall into that game. I'm just going to let Baroni talk, and I'm just going to execute game plans and then we'll just see what he's saying afterwards."?
Baroni was relentless. “The game plan is to run, Joe. That is a good game plan, run and try to survive. A lot of guys tried that game plan against me on the ground. Get me on the ground. That's what nobody cares about, Smokin' Joe. Run; get the guy on the ground. No one wants to watch that sh**t,"? said Baroni. “Just think about this. I'm bigger, and I'm stronger. I'm faster. I'm a better athlete than you. In fact, I'm the biggest, strongest, fastest, best athlete in the division. Remember that. I'm going to catch you. I'm going to catch you and hurt you. When I'm ripe, I hurt people. I'm ripe for the fight. I've got my f**king mouthpiece in my mouth right now. I am ready to go and ready to bust you up."?
Villaseńor to Baroni: “Put that f**king mouthpiece in deeper, please."?
“No. I am coming to throw bombs. My chin is down. My hands are up. Let them fly,"? went on Baroni. “I'll bring my track shoes. Villaseńor will be running. So, thanks for the heads up, brother. I'll work on my movement and cutting people off, and knock them down on the run. I've done a lot of that in my career. As I said, Villaseńor can run, but can't hide. I'm going to get him. The cage gets smaller by the round."?
When asked if being a somewhat late replacement for “Ninja"? Rua was a concern, Villasenor stated it was never an issue. “I didn’t overexert myself in my last fight with (Ryan) Jensen. It ended within the first round. I was still in great condition, and when given the opportunity to fight on CBS, when you have all these positives going in your direction, it would be hard to say no. I made my mind up as soon as the phone rang."?
“That's right. We're real fighters. Joe Villaseńor, whatever, he's a victim. I'm going to kill him. But, he's a real deal fighter. He's going to fight in a cage. But, he's a champ. He wasn't fighting for the money, (or) the girls,"? said Baroni answering a question he was never asked. “He wasn't some f**king teacher that f**king retired so he could be on Ultimate Fighter. He's a real fighter. He's doing it because he wants to f**king fight. He wants to prove himself. That's where I am. We ain't movie stars."?
Villasenor summed up his feelings: “I am very excited. I am glad that they gave me the ring. I look forward to going to war in enemy territory. I have a great team behind me. I'd like to say to my family and friends in Albuquerque and New Mexico I love you and the world finally gets to see my heart."?
As always, Baroni finished up his comments just like he fights in the ring: With reckless abandon: “I'm kind of shy. I really don't have much to say. Put me on the spot like that and all,"? he joked. “I'm just f***king happy to get home. I'm happy to get home. I look forward to the East Coast, New Jersey, New York. I fought a long time in Japan, all over the place, California, and in dude’s hometowns all the time. Now, we're coming to my house, and I'm going to defend."?
“I'm happy to be back. It's a long time coming, and I'm training real hard. I'm at AKA. I think it's the best camp in the business. I'm training real hard. All fighters think their camp's the best, but mine speaks for itself. I'm in top shape and I'm going to be ready to go. I'm not going to be denied. Blood and guts,"? said Baroni. “I'm 15 minutes, rounds all out, man, ready to go. I'm going to be proving what I started in 2002 before injuries and bulls**t happened. I am the best 185‑pounder in the world. When things are right and I'm ripe, I hurt people and I knock them out and I'm a show‑stopper. I'm going to stop this show on CBS. I'm winning this fight and ending it violently. I will separate Joe Villaseńor from consciousness."?
The winner of the war of words? Baroni by unanimous decision. Inside the ring? A complete toss up. We’ll soon find out.
Baroni vs. Villasenor will be on the EliteXC card which will be headlined by “Kimbo"? Slice taking on James Thompson. Also on the show: Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young and Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith.
Tickets for the live event start at $25 and are available at Ticketmaster locations, by phone (201) 507-8900, online at www.ticketmaster.com and at the Prudential Center box office (973) 757-6625.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. ET. The first live fight is at 6:30.
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