(Not interested in being a celebrity. Nope. Not one bit.)

You might think Phil Baroni would be pretty pumped about being on the Elite XC card this weekend. It’s a pretty big deal, what with it airing live on CBS and all. But Baroni? He’s keeping it in perspective, or so it seems from his recent interview with MMANews.com:

I’m not that excited like some of these guys are because I never got into fighting to be a Rockstar. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve been a pro for 8 years now. When I turned pro it was to fight and to be a professional fighter and to compete. There was no getting rich or being famous. You had the hardcore but it wasn’t about being on TV, hell, it wasn’t even about being on PPV when I started out. It’s cool that the sport is growing and that there are better opportunities and all but to me if I wanted to be on The Ultimate Fighter or a reality TV star than I would have went to drama club when I was in school and tried to be an actor or I would have taken more ground balls when I was in baseball and maybe played in the Major Leagues at third base or some shit.

Wait, back up a minute. You’re telling me Baroni wasn’t a member of his high school drama club? So he’s just a natural, then?

Also, it’s good to know that even pro fighters sometimes tell themselves that if only they’d taken a few more ground balls in high school baseball practice they’d be in the big leagues by now. I thought it was just me.

In case you were worried about the state of Baroni’s cardio following his dismal performance against Kala “Kolohe” Hose, he was apparently sufficiently humbled by that experience and has decided to get in shape:

MMANews.com: Did you go right into training following your last fight?

Phil Baroni: Yeah I fucking went running into training the next day. That was a fucking disgrace. I was close to being in shape then so I figured there was no point in getting out of shape so I went right in you know.

MMANews.com: Did you feel unprepared going into the fight with Hose?

Phil Baroni: Yeah, I knew I was unprepared. I had about 3 weeks to train for the fight and I had a lot of weight to lose. I had to lose 17 pounds before the fight and at weigh-ins I was like 3 quarters of a pound over. Kala was a good guy though and gave it to me.

That’s good to hear. Baroni’s one of those guys who, as soon as he gasses out, just the look on his face makes me feel exhausted. And I don’t want to go through that again when he fights Joey Villasenor. I just don’t think I have it in me.