It has been a busy few days for Joe Schilling. The two-combat sport star lost at Bellator 136 on Friday night to Rafael Carvalho in a close split decision. Then, the rest of the weekend he went to war with longtime MMA veteran Phil Baroni on Twitter.
Schilling wanted to take some time off, but said he was willing to take on Baroni at GLORY 21 on May 8 in San Diego. According to Schilling, Baroni turned down the bout. Schilling said doing a whole training camp for an MMA bout with Baroni wouldn’t do anything for his career and be “pointless.” GLORY in three weeks, though, would have been a different story.
“It’s like one kick and one punch and I’ll get a paycheck,” Schilling told MMAFighting.com. “That would have been a different story. The guy got knocked out by Karo Parisyan with a jab.”
Baroni wrote Monday on Twitter that he’d take on Schilling at a future GLORY show in New York. Schilling, though, doubts that any kind of fight will ever take place between the two men.
@JoeSchilling187 what’s funny and sad is 2002 called and wants it’s ground game back. Go learn how to fight. Embarrassing.I’d rag doll you
— phil baroni (@philbaroni) April 11, 2015
“He’s just another keyboard warrior that wants to talk sh*t,” Schilling said. “So I just took it upon myself, since I can’t kick his ass, I’ll just humiliate him on Twitter for two days. I think I did a pretty good job of that. The guy puts his foot in his own mouth. He made himself look worse than I did. He’s a joke and I can’t get my hands on him and no one would pay to watch it, so I’m just gonna make fun of him on Twitter.
“I don’t think anyone is interested in Phil Baroni on any level. I think the guy is just a has been, washed-up joke that everybody forgot about it. He just saw the opportunity to steal some of my attention or whatnot and try to lobby for a fight with me. I can appreciate that, but after hours of him doing it on my Instagram and my twitter page, he kind of pissed me off.”
Schilling said his next fight won’t be for GLORY, it’ll be in Bellator. Officials told him Friday to be ready for June. Bellator has two events that month — June 19 in St. Louis and June 24 in Kansas City. Schilling will likely be on one of those cards, but he isn’t sure who his opponent will be yet.
The plan for “Stich ‘Em Up” now is to go on a short vacation to Hawaii and then head down to American Top Team to work with his friend Muhammed Lawal. Schilling stands to benefit from the wrestling and grappling at ATT and he’ll also work with Thiago Alves in advance of Alves’ main event fight with Carlos Condit at UFC Fight Night 67 on May 30 in Brazil.
Schilling (2-4) was stifled by Carvalho on Friday night in the clinch and on the ground, which spurred Baroni to pipe up on Twitter. But Schilling knows he did more damage — Carvalho might have a broken jaw, per California State Athletic Commission doctors — and thinks he should have won the decision.
“If that’s a win, getting your ass beat on the feet and laying and praying the rest of the fight and doing absolutely nothing on the ground then he can f**king have it,” Schilling said. “I think the judges f**ked up, but it is what it is. I think it’s kind of pathetic that I have to do my job as a professional, but there’s no accountability to have the judges f**k up. It’s unacceptable to have three different judges have three different scores.”
In all, though, Schilling, 31, was happy with his performance. He said there was a time when he would have gotten submitted by Carvalho and heading into the bout he dealt with bronchitis for three weeks. Schilling’s cardio was not there.
Now, he’ll head down to American Top Team to polish up some of that ground game and be ready to put on a show again for fans in June.
“I think I’ll take advantage of that opportunity, continue to try and get better in the sport,” Schilling said. “I think the improvement level for my experience with the caliber of fighters I’m fighting is good. It’s just a matter of time.”