Phil Baroni vs. Amir Sadollah In The Works for UFC 106
Welterweight veteran Phil Baroni will make his return to the Octagon on November 21 at UFC 106 in Las Vegas against The Ultimate Fighter 7 winner Amir Sadollah, according to a report from Inside Fights citing sources close to both camps.
Baroni (13-11) went 3-5 in 8 UFC bouts between 2001 and 2005, leaving the UFC following four-straight losses. Three-straight defeats to Frank Shamrock, Kala Hose, and Joey Villasenor in 2007 and 2008 caused Baroni to drop down to welterweight, where he won three-straight fights before falling to Joe Riggs in his last fight in June.
Sadollah (1-1) won TUF 7 last June with a first-round submission of CB Dollaway, but was out of action for over a year due to injuries before finally returning last month at UFC 101 to suffer a controversial first-round TKO loss to Johny Hendricks.
UFC 106, which airs live on pay-per-view from the Mandalay Bay Events Center, is headlined by a matchup between heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and challenger Shane Carwin, and is also rumored to include Tito Ortiz vs. Mark Coleman and Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida.
For the latest UFC 106 rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.
Pictured: Amir Sadollah
Tags: Amir Sadollah, Phil Baroni
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Really? Wow, I can honestly say that I did not see this coming especially after Amir got beat on by Hendricks. I don’t like Amir’s chances in this fight because Baroni always burns all of his energy in the first round which might be bad for Amir. I hope I’m wrong and Amir will beat the “Best Eva”
I think Amir can take this one. Baroni has looked really bad lately and I could see Amir catching him in a submission.
Controversial? it’s called intelligently defending oneself in order to avoid the tko, Sadollah was doing nothing of the sort. Baroni will overwhelm Sadollah on the feet to lead to a tko victor or ko. Baroni’s wealth of experience should stifle any submission attempts from the bottom, Sadollah also could never hope to outwrestle Baroni or out cardio him. Despite journeyman status, Baroni is just too much for sadollah at this point in his talented but young career.
Wow, it sounds like they’re giving up on Season 7 and made enough off the Rampage Forrest fight. Anything can happen, but this match-up seems to be in Baroni’s favour. Amir could sub him, but Baroni was a wrestler (not a great one) before a boxer. I’m leaning towards Baroni, but anything can happen.
Wow.
Also did not see that coming.
It seems, on the surface, that Dana is throwing his boy Baroni in with a guy not quite ready for prime time, although maybe not if the cage rust was worn off of Amir by Andrei Arlovski mini-me Johny Hendricks…
amir is over rated always has been in my eyes, haveing said that amir should be able to beat baroni if not then ide give it up, not that i dont like baroni hes always going to have a punchers chance but at this stage of his career he shouldn’t be beating tuf winner!!
At this point, there’s like 18 or 20 “TUF winners”. They can’t all be contenders like Sanchez, Griffin, and Evans. The UFC will eventually have to cut some, i.e. Grove, Danzig, etc.
It’s getting to the point where being a tuf winner doesn’t really mean much anymore. Is anyone really expecting anything great from the likes of Bader, Escudero, Wilkes, or Pearson? I know I’m not. The fighting quality of tuf casts has gotten thinner and thinner, though I am hopeful that season 10 will produce some legit HW talent.
I agree with a lot of what you’re saying, but in the specific case of Ryan Bader I think the jury is still out.
The guy just turned 26 a couple months ago, has only been in the sport 2 years, and won TUF. He’s a 2 time NCAA Div.1 All-American wrestler with something like 120 wins, and in MMA he’s 9-0, and has an upcoming fight with Eric Schafer which should better help us determine his relative MMA level and progress of his knee recovery.
And remember the guy is fighting at the highest level of competition in the world, the UFC 205er class. In a smaller promotion, with less of a talneted crowd at 205, Bader would be a contender.
Also, and I say this with no untoward disrespect to Arizona Combat Sports, because they facilitate Bader training with guys like Aaron Simpson and Thales Leites, as well as WEC champion Jamie Varner, but IMO Bader would be better served working with a camp that can maximize his wrestling ability, and teach him complementary skills to make the most of what he’s got.
In short, he should be training with Hendo in Temecula, or heading out to Vegas to train at Xtreme Couture.
I’m thinking that enrolling in a Couture 101 class can only help Bader’s limited offense, and rolling with higher caliber guys, like Hendo or Couture, might rub off somehow.
Why don’t we at least wait until UFC 104 in October before writing Bader off, OK?
I think if it gets to the ground Amir can win it, but if not I think Baroni will (T)KO him. I like Amir, but getting knocked out by Hendricks has really given me some doubt about his prospects as a fighter.
In Amir’s defense, Hendricks does (including Amir) have 4 TKO victories out of his 6 pro fights.
man, this is crazy…when i see this headline, my honest first reaction was “wow, looks like they’re teeing one up for amir here”…has anyone seen baroni fight recently?…i think amir wins this relatively easily and beats a name if not necissarily a game opponent…just danas way of saying another FU to strikeforce, “hey we took ur guy and beat him up with our kid”…the end
I doubt that, Baroni has heavy hands and decent stand up, he could pose some real threats to Amir.
I really doubt that, mainly based on the fact that Baroni and Dana have remained friends even after his departure from the UFC. That being said leads me to believe that if either of these guys is getting a easy fight, it would be Phil.
Strikeforce wasn’t keeping him anyways sooo I doubt that…
The thing about Baroni is that he does have very heavy hands and after watch Hendricks hit Amir and Amir falling on his own dome, what do u think will happen to Amir now? Remember Baroni’s ko of Dave Menne the man can hit, but if it gets into the 2nd round Amir has a waaayyyyy better chance, I like Amir but he better work on lasting longer than 45seconds
I think Amir is the worst tuf winner up to date
With getting hurt twice before fights, then losing his “proper” debut… it’s hard to argue against that. But Kendall Grove, and Mac Danzig haven’t exactly set the world on fire, and I don’t expect much from Pearsons or Wilkes.
no way…hes the most inexperienced but he is not the worst
I dont understand how people have so low opinions of Ross Pearson & James Wilkes, im from the UK and although it may seem as if i would have clouded judgement i dont, Bisping for example, imo horrendous and iv said that from the start, doesnt hit hard, has mediocre wrestling & ju jitsu, the first top ten fighter (rashad,before he was even where he is at now) beat him and the second murdered him. iv been to all bar 1 event in the uk & ireland and the UK has better prospects in Paul Taylor, Paul Kelly, Paul Daley, Dan Hardy and Ross Pearson.
Judging them on the basis of how unsucsessful recent TUF winners have been is harsh, they maybe not championship material now but i guarantee that at least one of these past TUF winners will not fall into obscurity
And to be fair in terms of MMA the UK is probably at least 5 years behind the US & Brazil in terms of growth and standard, bar the few i have mentioned
wilks is gonna be good, a contender in like 2-3 years. pearson i don’t know.
why doesn’t the ufc try to get che mills a solid brit fighter. I know he lost to wilks in the pre-elims but he’s still legit.