|
|
  - BARONI PLANS TIME OFF, RETURN UNKNOWN
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 - by Steven Marrocco - MMAWeekly.com
33-year-old welterweight Phil Baroni is in Hawaii and planning to take time off from competition to rest and evaluate a new approach to MMA.
Baroni, speaking exclusively to MMAWeekly.com on Tuesday, said he is still not physically healthy after a decision loss to Amir Sadollah last month at UFC 106, his first UFC appearance after a four-year hiatus from the Octagon.
Despite several reports, Baroni said he has not agreed to fight Marcus Davis at UFC 111 on March 27 in Newark, N.J.
The Long Island, N.Y. native said he wanted to move from his adopted home of Las Vegas to experience different training camps, most notably, a possible permanent move to San Jose, Calif. for a permanent residence with American Kickboxing Academy. In the past, Baroni has trained often with the camp for hard sparring.
Big changes were in store, he assured.
"I can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results," Baroni said.
He hoped to link up with Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields, who trains often with AKA.
Chief among Baroni's goals was to reduce his walk-around weight. Two days before his fight with Sadollah, he was 25 pounds from the welterweight limit. A former bodybuilder, Baroni fought most of his career at middleweight but says he hasn't lifted weights in years.
"I was talking to Dennis Hallman; he told me his last fight, it was the best cardio he’s ever had, because he only had to cut three pounds," Baroni said. "I’m probably one of the biggest weight cutters at 170. I cut more weight than Anthony Johnson in my last fight. Cutting weight has taken away my endurance."
Asked whether Greg Jackson's Albuquerque, N.M. would be beneficial--veterans like Joe Stevenson and Aaron Riley have credited the champ for rejuvenating stagnant training regimens--Baroni responded favorably.
How long it would take before he was ready to fight, he didn't know.
"I haven’t had fun training in a long time," he said. "A lot of people were asking me, ‘how does it feel to be back in the UFC?’ I was like, no different. Just like any other fight. At this point in my life, it’s just become my job. That’s the problem. It’s like punching the time clock to go train. It’s not fun at all. It hasn’t been fun at all. It’s just been miserable. I’ve just got to find fun and be happy. Not to just feel like I have to go train….(expletive) that."
BACK TO THE NEWS
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Related Articles :
There Are No Related Articles To This Article
Copyright 2010 MMA Weekly LLC. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of MMA Weekly content is expressly prohibited without expressed written consent of MMA Weekly. MMA Weekly will not be liable for any errors in content or any action taken in reliance thereof.
|
|
|
|
