Tag: FanHouse Exclusive

Phil Baroni: ‘It’s Obvious That a Lot of People Are Counting Me Out’

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse ExclusiveAfter 10 years in this sport, no one has to tell Phil Baroni what’s at stake on New Year’s Day.

When you’re a 34-year-old fighter on a two-fight losing streak who just happens to be facing a 23-year-old kid fresh of…

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After 10 years in this sport, no one has to tell Phil Baroni what’s at stake on New Year’s Day.

When you’re a 34-year-old fighter on a two-fight losing streak who just happens to be facing a 23-year-old kid fresh off season 11 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” it’s pretty self-evident.

“It’s obvious that a lot of people are counting me out, the UFC included,” Baroni (13-12), who faces Brad Tavares (6-0) at UFC 125 on Saturday, told MMA Fighting. “You know, they’re giving me guys off ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ they never send me to expos, stuff like that. But I’m thankful for the opportunity to get that all back, and I’m going to start on New Year’s Day and resurrect my career. I’ve done it before; I’ll do it again.”

If he doesn’t, if he loses to Tavares on the UFC 125 prelims, well, Baroni doesn’t really want to think too much about what will happen then.

The Best in 2010 Interviews

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Over the past year, MMA Fighting’s E. Casey Leydon and I have traveled around the world to cover this great sport. From UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi to UFC 120 in London, England, to everywhere in between, if there was a major MMA event happening, we were more often than not there. In total, we covered 24 MMA events together this year (not including one Winter Olympic Games).

So we thought it would be fun to look back at the moments and people we encountered along the way. Enjoy parts 1 and 2 of our best interviews from the past year below.

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Over the past year, MMA Fighting’s E. Casey Leydon and I have traveled around the world to cover this great sport. From UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi to UFC 120 in London, England, to everywhere in between, if there was a major MMA event happening, we were more often than not there. In total, we covered 24 MMA events together this year (not including one Winter Olympic Games).

So we thought it would be fun to look back at the moments and people we encountered along the way. Enjoy parts 1 and 2 of our best interviews from the past year below.

My First Fight: Mike Pyle

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse ExclusiveIf you walked up to a 175-pound fighter with no pro bouts to his credit and asked him if he wanted to fight 205-pound Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for a hundred bucks on a week’s notice, chances are he’d look at you lik…

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If you walked up to a 175-pound fighter with no pro bouts to his credit and asked him if he wanted to fight 205-pound Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for a hundred bucks on a week’s notice, chances are he’d look at you like you’d just declared yourself to be the rightful king of England.

That’s today. That’s the state of the fight game in 2010. But back in Memphis, Tenn. in 1999, that exact same proposal didn’t seem so bad when it was put to Mike Pyle.

“I was set to fight someone in my weight class,” Pyle remembers. “I was 175 pounds soaking wet, with my gi on. My opponent had gotten hurt at a jiu-jitsu tournament a week before. Why the hell he was doing a jiu-jitsu tournament a week before, I don’t know, but the promoter…called me and said, ‘Hey, there’s a problem. Your boy got hurt, so how about Rampage?’ I was like, okay, let’s do it. That was all it took.”

Sources: Alistair Overeem vs. Todd Duffee Set for Dynamite!! 2010

Filed under: DREAM, FanHouse Exclusive, JapanLess than two weeks before FEG’s Dynamite!! 2010 show, Alistair Overeem finally knows who he will be facing on the card.

His opponent? Former UFC prospect Todd Duffee.

Duffee hinted at fighting Overeem on …

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Less than two weeks before FEG’s Dynamite!! 2010 show, Alistair Overeem finally knows who he will be facing on the card.

His opponent? Former UFC prospect Todd Duffee.

Duffee hinted at fighting Overeem on the Dec. 31 card late Tuesday evening on his Facebook, and since then MMA Fighting has confirmed with multiple sources close to the bout that both parties have officially agreed to the fight. Duffee deleted the status update shortly after posting the news on his Facebook page.

While Overeem, the Strikeforce heavyweight champion, was on hand for a pre-fight press conference in Japan on Wednesday, FEG is only expected to officially announce the fight sometime after Christmas.

Contrary to Reports, Satoru Kitaoka Not Signed by UFC

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, News, JapanForget about adding Satoru Kitaoka’s name to the recent list of Japanese fighters signed by the UFC.

Contrary to several Internet reports, UFC president Dana White confirmed with MMA Fighting on Wednesd…

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Satoru KitaokaForget about adding Satoru Kitaoka‘s name to the recent list of Japanese fighters signed by the UFC.

Contrary to several Internet reports, UFC president Dana White confirmed with MMA Fighting on Wednesday that organization had not signed the lightweight fighter.

‘Mayhem’ Miller Says Fight With Nick Diaz Was Almost Signed Last Week

Filed under: Strikeforce, FanHouse ExclusiveJason “Mayhem” Miller has spent the better part of the last year campaigning for a fight with Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz. Now it seems as if that door may be closing for good.

“We almost ha…

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Jason “Mayhem” Miller has spent the better part of the last year campaigning for a fight with Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz. Now it seems as if that door may be closing for good.

“We almost had the fight together,” Miller told MMA Fighting on Wednesday.

Almost, but not quite.

After getting ganged up on by Diaz and his teammates on live network TV in April, the goal of getting Diaz alone in the cage seemed to nearly consume the “Bully Beatdown” star. He printed t-shirts, started a website, and did countless interviews all about how badly he wanted the fight. Now that Strikeforce has decided to match his nemesis up with Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos instead, Miller can’t help but feel a little disappointed.

“I figured that maybe if I made enough noise about it, it would come to fruition,” Miller said. “I knew that one of two things was going to happen. Either I was going to get the fight with Diaz and expose him, show that he’s not some damn unstoppable, pitter-pat punching tank, but just some dude who can get beat up. Or, the other option, I was going to expose him for what he is, which is a guy who picks favorable fights constantly.”