Another fight was added today to the highly anticipated network debut for EliteXC on CBS this upcoming May 31, according to CageSideLive.net.
“The New York Bad Ass” Phil Baroni (10-9) will step in the cage with Brazilain Chute Boxe fighter and former EliteXC middleweight champion, Murilo “Ninja” Rua (15-8-1).
Baroni is coming off back-to-back losses to Frank Shamrock and Kala Kolohe Hose. While Baroni lost both those fights he still managed to win the admiration of a lot of fans with his display of heart and courage.
His fight with Hose — for the vacant Icon Sport 185-pound title — was less than two weeks ago. It was a five round war and one that Baroni showed a lot of aggression and power in during the early rounds.
Hose, however, just rode the hometown crowd through the early storm and persevered in the later rounds.
Rua, on the other hand, has won four of his last five fights, splitting two bouts under the EliteXC banner. His loss was his first title defense against Robbie Lawler last September.
After that loss he defeated Xavier Foupa-Pokam with a rear naked choke in the second round at Cage Rage 24.
Ninja has shown somewhat of a suspect chin in the past and that could prove to be a problem against the power of Baroni. But Baroni for his part doesn’t posses any real jiu-jitsu skills, so this fight should be a nice clash of styles.
This is another fight for the CBS show that has some name recognition and should provide some exciting action.
Lawler and Scott Smith are also booked to duke it our for the Elitexc middleweight title and Kimbo Slice is also set to compete that night at The Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Should be interesting.
27 Comments »
Love Baroni fights… especially when he loses.
It’s the battle of over-rated fighters. Baroni has been over-rated ever since his highlight reel KO of Dave Menne. And Ninja has been over-rated because he’s the brother of Shogun.
The key to the fight is… who will gas first? lol
if baroni dosent get the KO in round 1 he will get owned…
[quote comment=”387953″]Love Baroni fights… especially when he loses.[/quote]
Yes!
Baroni is really getting smacked in this fight.
Smacked with a big ‘L’.
he needs to kno wen to quit. ahah
we’ve got to deal with baroni again? ugh… :\
this should be a good fight
they are putting together some decent matches that could easily headline a ufc card especially ufn
baroni is a true warrior
he isnt blessed with the greatest skills or the most technical striking
but he is prepared to fight anyone at any time
he doesnt pick and choose fights and will always come out swinging
there is no such thing as a boring baroni fight
he also has true knockout power and isnt scared of getting hit
so is dangerous for anybody
im not impressed with shogun or ninja both seem to have lost focus
my $$$ will be going on baroni
This looks like a good card, love watching baroni fight, he’s got heart and never gives up, he’ll pass out b4 he taps. I hope baroni gets a win which is much needed for his career.
————
Baroni is coming off back-to-back losses to Frank Shamrock and Kala Kolohe Hose. While Baroni lost both those fights he still managed to win the admiration of a lot of fans with his display of heart and courage.
————
Rofl, admiration huh?
[quote comment=”387956″]It’s the battle of over-rated fighters. Baroni has been over-rated ever since his highlight reel KO of Dave Menne. And Ninja has been over-rated because he’s the brother of Shogun.
The key to the fight is… who will gas first? lol[/quote]
I wouldn’t say overrated because neither is ranked high, although Ninja used to be really good back in the day, he is way past his prime though but can still give a great and exciting fight (and so does Baroni). I still don’t know why ppl mention Ninja being under Chute Boxe when he left them a long time ago, they should just say former Chute Boxe or his new camp Universidade da Luta.
While not top notch competition the first CBS show in my mind is shaping up to be at the least very interesting. Especially for a free broadcast.
nate diaz
Mar 25th, 2008 at 11:45 pm Quote this comment
this should be a good fight
they are putting together some decent matches that could easily headline a ufc card especially ufn
Are you kidding me? None of these cans could headline a UFC event. That’s why they’re not in the UFC.
[quote comment=”388481″][quote comment=”387956″]It’s the battle of over-rated fighters. Baroni has been over-rated ever since his highlight reel KO of Dave Menne. And Ninja has been over-rated because he’s the brother of Shogun.
The key to the fight is… who will gas first? lol[/quote]
I wouldn’t say overrated because neither is ranked high, although Ninja used to be really good back in the day, he is way past his prime though but can still give a great and exciting fight (and so does Baroni). I still don’t know why ppl mention Ninja being under Chute Boxe when he left them a long time ago, they should just say former Chute Boxe or his new camp Universidade da Luta.[/quote]
Linx: Very accurate post! I have followed Ninja’s career and even though he has diminished as a fighter, i am still a big fan of his and I fully expect him to submit Baroni easily.
My Favorite Ninja fight ever was when he fought Mario Sperry in Pride….that was one hell of a fight.
Ninja will make quick work of Baroni
Baroni is screwed I’d say
It’ll defo be a good fight (as Diaz said) Baroni always puts on a good show……but putting on a good show and not winning is really kinda pointless when you make a habit of it
I mean a 10-9 record? Who’s that gonna impress?
I’d love to see it go 10-10, especially with Baroni running his mouth hahaha
[quote comment=”388614″][quote comment=”388481″][quote comment=”387956″]It’s the battle of over-rated fighters. Baroni has been over-rated ever since his highlight reel KO of Dave Menne. And Ninja has been over-rated because he’s the brother of Shogun.
The key to the fight is… who will gas first? lol[/quote]
I wouldn’t say overrated because neither is ranked high, although Ninja used to be really good back in the day, he is way past his prime though but can still give a great and exciting fight (and so does Baroni). I still don’t know why ppl mention Ninja being under Chute Boxe when he left them a long time ago, they should just say former Chute Boxe or his new camp Universidade da Luta.[/quote]
Linx: Very accurate post! I have followed Ninja’s career and even though he has diminished as a fighter, i am still a big fan of his and I fully expect him to submit Baroni easily.
My Favorite Ninja fight ever was when he fought Mario Sperry in Pride….that was one hell of a fight.
Ninja will make quick work of Baroni[/quote]
my favorite was the page fight, and I really feel he was robbed but if they met again page would demolish him. I agree though, I think ninja is going to give the “bad ass” his 10th loss, I kinda feel bad for baroni who is going to have a 10-10 record…
[quote comment=”387956″]It’s the battle of over-rated fighters. Baroni has been over-rated ever since his highlight reel KO of Dave Menne. And Ninja has been over-rated because he’s the brother of Shogun.
The key to the fight is… who will gas first? lol[/quote]
Sounds pretty accurate to me.
A lot of people get on Baroni for his record, which is still over 500. Baroni jumped right into the game fighting top competition Only Baroni’s 1st and 3rd pro fights weren’t in the top two organizations - UFC and PRIDE.
Today’s young fighters all have these tiny little backyard organizations where they can get a pro mma fight against their cousin’s neighbor’s friend. Many of these up and coming fighters and stars of today started their careers in small organizations where they were fighting much lower talent - especially when considered to the talent level of the UFC.
[quote comment=”388630″][quote comment=”388614″][quote comment=”388481″][quote comment=”387956″]It’s the battle of over-rated fighters. Baroni has been over-rated ever since his highlight reel KO of Dave Menne. And Ninja has been over-rated because he’s the brother of Shogun.
The key to the fight is… who will gas first? lol[/quote]
I wouldn’t say overrated because neither is ranked high, although Ninja used to be really good back in the day, he is way past his prime though but can still give a great and exciting fight (and so does Baroni). I still don’t know why ppl mention Ninja being under Chute Boxe when he left them a long time ago, they should just say former Chute Boxe or his new camp Universidade da Luta.[/quote]
Linx: Very accurate post! I have followed Ninja’s career and even though he has diminished as a fighter, i am still a big fan of his and I fully expect him to submit Baroni easily.
My Favorite Ninja fight ever was when he fought Mario Sperry in Pride….that was one hell of a fight.
Ninja will make quick work of Baroni[/quote]
my favorite was the page fight, and I really feel he was robbed but if they met again page would demolish him. I agree though, I think ninja is going to give the “bad ass” his 10th loss, I kinda feel bad for baroni who is going to have a 10-10 record…[/quote]
Rampage vs. Ninja was a good fight for ninja. He clearly deserved to win and was robbed. Rampage showed his class by even telling Ninja, and the camera that he did not really win that fight. That was Rampage’s worst fight ever. He looked to be fighting in slow motion. It was a bad time for Rampage because he fought Ninja in his first fight after getting KO by wanderlei, then he fought Ninja, and his next fight was against Shogun. That was the worst stretch of Rampoage’s career. But you got to respect him for fighting Silva, Ninja and Shogun in consecutive fights.
Worst Ninja fight was when he decided to get fat and enter the 2004 pride heavyweight Grand Prix. sergei Kharitonov Knocked him out really bad.
Ninja is still reletively young, and he does have an opportunity to get his career back on track, but it doesnt look good. I know he will beat Baroni, so hopefully tht will get his career back on track, because when he is on his A game, he is a very exciting fighter.
Ninja by submission in second round.
Baroni is too overrated
I’m really surpised they’re putting Baroni on the first CBS show. I’ve read how everyone thinks they’re crazy putting Kimbo as the face of MMA, but Baronis is WAY WORSE!
Yes, Kimbo is a total thug, but at least he can act civil in front of a camera. Baroni may be the only person who curses more than Dana White. If they put him in front of the camera, he might single handedly kill the network deal.
HUGE MISTAKE!
By the way, for what it’s worth; I think Rua will work Baroni
Back in the ring already eh? I like that. Hose/Baroni was my favorite fight/upset of the year thus far. Can’t wait for this one. Baroni always brings it… for the first 2 rounds at least. Ninja by submission. i’m telling you, EliteXC aint that bad!
this is shaping up to be a pretty good fight card epecially for free tv. i agree with nate that some of these could matches could be considered headline for a ufn. i would rather watch the NY BADASS try KO ninja rua than see the nightmare vs. the marine which is the main event for the TUF 7 finale. also looking forward to Hands of Steel Scott Smith vs. Ruthless Robbie Lawlor. hope they find someone good for KIMBO to fight.
[quote comment=”388918″]Back in the ring already eh? I like that. Hose/Baroni was my favorite fight/upset of the year thus far. Can’t wait for this one. Baroni always brings it… for the first 2 rounds at least. Ninja by submission. i’m telling you, EliteXC aint that bad![/quote]
[quote comment=”388918″]Back in the ring already eh? I like that. Hose/Baroni was my favorite fight/upset of the year thus far. Can’t wait for this one. Baroni always brings it… for the first 2 rounds at least. Ninja by submission. i’m telling you, EliteXC aint that bad![/quote]
EliteXC isnt bad, and I would like to see it continue to grow. The problem with it right now is that they got like 1 star in ecah division and a lack of quality opponents to match that star up against. Once they add some depth in quailty of fighters it will be a pretty good organization.
My problem with it is that it is being run by an idiot, who seems to be trying to promote the organizations with Brawlers (Kimbo, Baroni, Tank,) I would like to see more well rounded mixed martial Artists becoming the face of the franchise.
and if Shaw thinks he can make EliteXc great by adding washed up stars with big names but deminished talent like Tito ortiz, then they are crazy cause thats not going to work either. They need to sign real fighters like Fedor, Arlosvki, Koschek. Another problem is that DREAM looks to be for real and EliteXC is going to have to compete with DREAM for top notch disgruntled UFC free agents.
Bottom line, they needmuch more depth and stop promoting brawlers so much.
hey john the MMA world needs an org. like this cause its still better than boxing,even though its not as good as UFC. i still like to see some brawlers involved in awesome slug fests, and knowing that EliteXC has these kinds of fights i will definetly be watching. when i wanna watch well rounded MMA i will watch the UFC or WEC, or even HCF from CANADA. iwould watch DREAM if it was on in CANADA. hope they make all their TV fight cards this good. icant decide who to go for in the Mwt title fight i a fan of both HANDS of STEEL & RUTHLESS, either way someone is going to end up KOed which is always good. sometimes i wanna just watch 2 guys trade until 1 of them drops. i know some people are gonna say that there is no skill involved in slugfest but good footwork & head movement are skills that good brawlers know how to use.
[quote comment=”389014″]hey john the MMA world needs an org. like this cause its still better than boxing,even though its not as good as UFC. i still like to see some brawlers involved in awesome slug fests, and knowing that EliteXC has these kinds of fights i will definetly be watching. when i wanna watch well rounded MMA i will watch the UFC or WEC, or even HCF from CANADA. iwould watch DREAM if it was on in CANADA. hope they make all their TV fight cards this good. icant decide who to go for in the Mwt title fight i a fan of both HANDS of STEEL & RUTHLESS, either way someone is going to end up KOed which is always good. sometimes i wanna just watch 2 guys trade until 1 of them drops. i know some people are gonna say that there is no skill involved in slugfest but good footwork & head movement are skills that good brawlers know how to use.[/quote]
I like EliteXC, the only point I was trying to make was that I hope it grows. Good ol’ fashion Brawls are always good. I enjoy them in the UFC as well. The point I was trying to make is with the humongous platform that is having an event on CBS, I would like EliteEX to showcase more mma, than just brawling because Brawls aren’t going to help the sport grow. Viewers that enjoy Brawls are all already familiar with mma. Having a show on EliteXC is a huge opportunity to win over some mma bashers, and show them what a wonderful and classy sport mma is. I am not so sure that Kimbo and Baroni are the right guys to portray mma. Thats all I was trying to say. I am not knocking EliteXC, I am actually rooting for them to grow succesfully to lighten the grip on the monopoly of American mma.
I dont want to sound like I am bashing it, because I will tell you straight up, I will be watching the event and I will enjoy the brawls. I just would like them to promote well rounded mma fighters more than they have been, especialy on the CBS shows!
[quote comment=”387977″]if baroni dosent get the KO in round 1 he will get owned…[/quote]
Thats most likely how its gonna go. He needs to work on his cardio. That would do wonders for his career.
[quote comment=”388963″][quote comment=”388918″]Back in the ring already eh? I like that. Hose/Baroni was my favorite fight/upset of the year thus far. Can’t wait for this one. Baroni always brings it… for the first 2 rounds at least. Ninja by submission. i’m telling you, EliteXC aint that bad![/quote]
[quote comment=”388918″]Back in the ring already eh? I like that. Hose/Baroni was my favorite fight/upset of the year thus far. Can’t wait for this one. Baroni always brings it… for the first 2 rounds at least. Ninja by submission. i’m telling you, EliteXC aint that bad![/quote]
EliteXC isnt bad, and I would like to see it continue to grow. The problem with it right now is that they got like 1 star in ecah division and a lack of quality opponents to match that star up against. Once they add some depth in quailty of fighters it will be a pretty good organization.
My problem with it is that it is being run by an idiot, who seems to be trying to promote the organizations with Brawlers (Kimbo, Baroni, Tank,) I would like to see more well rounded mixed martial Artists becoming the face of the franchise.
and if Shaw thinks he can make EliteXc great by adding washed up stars with big names but deminished talent like Tito ortiz, then they are crazy cause thats not going to work either. They need to sign real fighters like Fedor, Arlosvki, Koschek. Another problem is that DREAM looks to be for real and EliteXC is going to have to compete with DREAM for top notch disgruntled UFC free agents.
Bottom line, they needmuch more depth and stop promoting brawlers so much.[/quote]
I’m sure thats where EliteXC would like to be 1 day but is probably short on cash.