Baroni-Riggs Likely For June Strikeforce Event
Phil Baroni
Welterweights Phil Baroni and Joe Riggs are likely to meet on Strikeforce’s rumored June 6th event in St. Louis, according to Five Ounces of Pain.
According to the report, both fighters have been offered the matchup but neither has officially signed on for the bout.
Baroni (13-10), a former UFC fighter who left the promotion following four-straight losses between 2003 and 2005, dropped from middleweight to welterweight last year following three-straight losses to Frank Shamrock, Kala Hose, and Joey Villasenor. “The New York Badass” has found success at the new weight class, going 3-0 at 170-pounds with victories over Scott Jansen, Ron Verdadero, and Olaf Alfonso.
Riggs (29-10) was offered a UFC title shot against Matt Hughes in 2005 following back-to-back wins, but failed to make weight for the fight then lost to Hughes in a non-title matchup. After going 2-2 in his next 4 UFC bouts with wins over Nick Diaz and Jason Von Flue as well as losses to Mike Swick and Diego Sanchez, “Diesel” was cut from the promotion. Since leaving he’s gone 4-2, most-recently defeating Luke Stewart via second-round TKO at Strikeforce: Destruction last November. He was originally slated to fight June 6th headliner Jake Shields on April 11th, but the matchup was scrapped after Shields was instead tapped to fight Robbie Lawler.
Riggs went on an expletive-filled rant earlier today in an interview with Ariel Helwani at Versus.com (uncensored version available at Fightlinker) regarding Shield’s decision to fight Lawler because a fight against Riggs wasn’t “big enough”.
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Tags: Joe Riggs, Phil Baroni
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Who cares about this fight? Both guys suck a$$. Maybe ther just fighting to see who sucks less. I know i sound harsh, but hey that’s my honest feeling towards this fight.
13-10 record huh Baroni, yeah you really are “DA BEST EVA! DA BEST EVA!” hopefully Diesel has got over his stage fright and can bring the intensity he shows in training into the cage and give The New York Bad Ass-hole a beat down
Hey guys its more exciting than Tank v Shammy Shamm was going to be (yay steroids we don’t have to see that piece of shhhhhhh), I think Riggs will win this fight and I believe that Baroni has become an entertainer more than a fighter (and is perhaps the best corner man eva, FUKKIN EVA!!) hey get that money guys righton, I would watch it..
What happened to the Baroni that destroyed Dave Menne goodness that was brutal
That was Belfort like hand speed I think Baroni got in 7 or 8 big shots after Menne was out and the force of the punches were actually keeping Dave Menne upright
In regards to Tank v. Shammy Shamm, sorry to bust your bubble, but there’s always next year. Maybe one of them will decide to hang ‘em up though…. but probably not.
You’re correct unfortunately that is true there is always next year that thought is quite bothersome but whatever… so be it
guaranteed Baroni has a losing record by the time he calls it quits.
I thought what Riggs said about Shield was great. Maybe he’s right or maybe he’s wrong,. great none the less. I think Shields would be in for a rude awakening if and when he goes to the UFC.