(Baroni training at Xtreme Couture, looking ripped.)

Joe Riggs was expecting a fight with Jake Shields in Strikeforce this summer and didn’t take kindly to the news that he would be getting Phil Baroni instead, but talking with Riggs this afternoon he said his focus is now fully on Baroni, who he is expecting to be “pharmaceutically enhanced” when they meet in the Strikeforce cage on June 6.  While the “Diesel” stopped short of saying that Baroni was definitely on the juice, he did say that Baroni exhibits all the typical signs of a steroid user, from his physique to his performance on fight night.

“He always shows up in shape, looking shredded and puffed up, but I think he’ll be pharmaceutically enhanced, too.  Just because he doesn’t test positive for steroids doesn’t mean he’s not on them right now.”

(Baroni was kind enough to take a break from filming the new "Miami Vice" movie in order to drop by the Strikeforce press conference.)

MMA needs characters just as much as it needs the stoic types who just bore everyone by doing nothing but winning fights and keeping their mouth shut.  But God bless Phil Baroni, who will make sure there is never a dull moment when he shows up to your party.  Looking over the quotes from yesterday’s Strikeforce presser it’s enough to make you wonder whether they didn’t open with a standup routine from Baroni.  Just check out some of the gems he dropped on the mic in St. Louis yesterday.

On fighting styles and management choices:

"I asked my agent – I said ‘hey get me a southpaw to fight.’  My agent’s pretty stupid.  He said ‘What’s that?  He didn’t know what a southpaw was.  So, I said "It’s a (expletive) left-handed fighter.  I’m real good at fighting lefties.  Lefties are made to order for me.  They eat straight right hands and I’ve got a pretty (expletive) big one.  I’m going to put it right on his kisser."

It takes a special kind of cojones to stare down permanent injury and say "Eff it, I ain’t tappin’." Inspired by the DVD we’ve been plugging lately, we decided to pay tribute to the technical submission — that thrilling moment when a fighter is caught in a health-threatening submission hold, but is too stupid much of a warrior to concede defeat, so the referee has to do it for him. Because as a wise man once said, "Tapping out is for bitches." Enjoy…

***

#8: Daniel Gracie vs. Wes Sims
IFL Championships 2006, 6/3/06

After their first chaotic mess of a bout was ruled a “Technical Draw,” Gracie and Sims met again in the IFL for another technical ending.  Though Sims has always had a hazy understanding of the rules in any given MMA bout, he got taken down too quickly to launch any illegal stomps in this one, and had to settle for giving up his back and then trying to grab on to the ropes (thankfully Stephen Quadros reminds him that he can’t do that) as Gracie stayed on him like a backpack and choked him unconscious.  There’s nothing quite like seeing a 6’10” guy drop to the canvas like somebody just pulled his plug.  Sleep well, buddy.

#7. Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni
Strikeforce/EliteXC: Shamrock vs. Baroni, 6/22/07

(Choke starts at the 8:35 mark.)

Thanks to Shammy’s pioneering work in video trash talk, this fight was epic before it even began. Strikeforce’s first middleweight title fight paired two loud-mouthed badasses who would never admit defeat — but unfortunately, there could be only one champion. After battering the NYBA with punches for almost two full rounds, Shamrock took Baroni’s back, wrapped an arm around his neck, and squeezed. While most men would tap to the hold, Baroni went out like a warrior, throwing punches into Frank’s mug until he lost consciousness. Shamrock celebrated his win by shoving Baroni’s lifeless body then kicking him in the ass, proving that he wasn’t just the better fighter that night, he was also the bigger asshole.

(Still the best eva. Props: Genghis Con)

From a recent NerdSociety.com interview with the New York Bad Ass:

Hear that, nerds? Be more like this guy. You can read the rest of this illuminating interview here. Baroni takes on Joe Riggs at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields on June 6th.

(Dave Kaplan cleans up on "The Singing Bee’s" Girl Power Night.  No joke.  The money line: "You’re making me nervous, Fatone!" Thanks to reader bpd for this.)

- Inside MMA previews Arlovski/Fedor. (MMA Scraps)

- Wagnney Fabiano in no hurry to get WEC belt. (Tatame)

- Phil Baroni wants back in the UFC.  Good luck, bro. (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Joe Rogan’s "Fight For The Troops" rant is pretty right on. (Fightlinker)

- Satoshi Ishii celebrates his birthday. (Suki MMA)

- Hong Man Choi not worried about midget Cro Cop. (Fighters Only)

- Dodgeball, Xtreme Couture style. (Xtreme Couture)

- If alcohol labels were more realistic. (Holy Taco)

- Goodbye Sparks, you will be missed. (Wall Street Fighter)

- The weirdest Jeff Goldblum moments are really weird. (Screen Junkies)

- Cop hits deer at 75 mph, and it goes flying. (Nothing Toxic)

(Mr. and Mrs. New York Bad Ass)

Congratulations, you crazy kids. I hope she knows what she’s getting herself into. Check out the full wedding photo gallery at Combat Lifestyle. You can even play the classic game: Where’s War Machine? It’s the game where, when you win, you immediately wish you’d never played.

(Jorge Masvidal vs. Ryan Schulz; more videos here.)

From today’s Sengoku show at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan…

Middleweight GP 1st Round:
Yuki Sasaki def. Yuki Kondo via submission (rear-naked choke), round 2
Siyar Bahadurzada def. Evangelista Santos via TKO (injury), round 1
Jorge Santiago def. Logan Clark via submission (arm triangle choke), round 1
Kazuhiro Nakamura def. Paul Cahoon via unanimous decision

Lightweights:
Jorge Masvidal def. Ryan Schultz via TKO, round 1
Kiuma Kunioku def. Sol Kwon via unanimous decision

Heavyweights:
Muhammed Lawal def. Travis Wiuff via TKO, round 1

Light-Heavyweights:
Xande Ribeiro def. Takashi Sugiura via TKO, round 3

In other weekend fight news…

– Phil Baroni scored his third-straight win as a welterweight on Friday with his unanimous decision victory over WEC vet Olaf Alfonso at Palace Fighting Championships 10 in Lemoore, California. Baroni later apologized for his performance, saying he couldn’t find his rhythm in the fight.

– Jeff Monson choked out MMA cautionary tale Mark Kerr in the first round of their bout at Don King Productions’ debut Vengeance FC card, held last night in Concord, North Carolina. It was Kerr’s ninth loss in his last 11 fights.

(Battle of the Teams Who Only Win About 60% of the Time.)

After doing a little bit of digging on Sherdog’s Fight Statistics section, MMA Madness posted a list of the ten most successful MMA camps (with at least 100 combined fights):

1. Arizona Combat Sports, 116-27, .81
1. Jackson’s Submission Fighting, 124-30, .81
3. Minnesota Martial Arts, 243-64, .79
4. Team Curran, 108-42, .77
4. American Jiu-Jitsu, 92-28, .77
4. American Kickboxing Academy, 174-53, .77
7. HIT Squad, 80-25, .76
7. Capital City Fighting Alliance, 78-25, .76
7. Southwest MMA, 78-25, .76
7. Miletich Martial Arts, 457-148, .76

Falling just out of the top ten were ATT, Xtreme Couture, Team Punishment, and The Pit.

In the interest of fairness, we compiled the ten least successful MMA camps. If you were thinking about joining up with these guys, think twice.

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

From CageRage.tv:

I want to put on record my sincere apologies to Phil Baroni, the fans and Cage Rage for the incident that took place following my fight on Saturday. It should not have happened and the person responsible is very shamed faced.

At the time — thanks to his incredible right hook — I was unaware that Phil had been assaulted. In fact I was totally unaware of anything and everything. Baroni has my utmost respect for his prowess in the Cage — and particularly the way he handled the assault following the fight.

He could have escalated the situation but instead chose to act like a true and mature ambassador for the sport.

I apologised in person to Phil on the night, he duly accepted my gesture — shook hands — and bought him a drink. There is no ill feeling from Phil or his Team and I now wish to continue to strive to improve myself as a fighter and concentrate on my career. I wanted to make that apology public.

Scott Jansen.

Poor guy. I have a feeling this isn’t the first time he’s had to apologize for his knucklehead brother. But a mention of his wife’s rude bird-flipping behavior would have been nice. A word of advice, Scott: Stop bringing your family to your fights. You’re 3-3 now; getting some peace away from that chaotic group might help your career more than you know.

Speaking of bad behavior: TMZ has now obtained video of Rampage’s arrest, soundtracked by the mellow sounds of Canned Heat. And while we’re on the topic, InsideFighting says that Jackson’s hit-and-run charge is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in county jail, a $1,000 fine, or both. No word yet on any disciplinary action the UFC might be taking.

(Animated gif courtesy of Fightlinker.)

From Fighters Only Magazine:

Phil Baroni says he will not be pressing charges after being subjected to a cowardly assault by an associate of his defeated opponent Scott Jansen at Saturday night’s Cage Rage event.

“These things happen.” Said Baroni. “It must be tough to see a loved one get knocked out like that. Emotions ran high. I want to put this behind me.”

Baroni, who was making his welterweight debut, knocked Jansen out in the first round of their fight.

As medical staff surrounded Jansen, Baroni approached to check on his condition and was unexpectedly headbutted by Jansen’s associate, who then immediately fled the ring. Insult was added to injury when Jansen’s girlfriend launched into a foul-mouthed tirade against Baroni. But Baroni stayed calm and made no attempt to exact retribution for the assault — although his cornerman Mark Coleman was reportedly eager to do so.

The incident was broadcast live and once again calls into question Cage Rage’s policy of allowing friends and family into the cage after fights.

Cage Rage co-promoter Dave O’Donnell says that action has already been taken following the incident and that the organisation “has issued a ban on a member of Scott’s family attending future fights.”

Previously: Baroni Wins WW Debut, Gets Headbutted by Asshole

(Props: FightOpinion)

Phil Baroni’s first match as a welterweight was a resounding success, as the New York Badass dominated Scott Jansen to a first-round knockout victory at Cage Rage 27 last night in London. Unexpectedly, Baroni quickly got the fight to the ground, scoring a smooth double-leg takedown shortly after the bell and effortlessly controlling Jansen from the top. After an armlock attempt didn’t pan out, Baroni moved to full mount, but both men were quickly ordered to their feet by the ref. Baroni then reverted back to his bread and butter, turning out Jansen’s lights with a perfect right hook; Baroni returned after the stoppage to shake the hand of his still-sleeping opponent.

About thirty seconds later, Baroni made the mistake of going back again to check on Jansen, and one of Jansen’s cornermen responded by headbutting him — or “nutting” him, as the commentators colorfully put it. (“Wot’a dizgrace.”) The headbutter conveniently disappeared after the confrontation, while Baroni scored big-time respect points for not chasing him down and tearing his dumb ass apart. Video of the fight and post-fight assault is above; the questionable ref standup is at 3:36, the knockout punch is at 3:58, and the headbutt is at 4:45. Baroni competes next at Icon Sport: Hard Times (August 2, Honolulu), where he’ll face 3-5 Jesus Is Lord jobber Ron Verdadero.

In other action at Cage Rage 27, Neil Grove defeated Robert Berry in their rematch, stopping “Buzz” via strikes in the second round, while Mustapha Al Turk scored a first-round ground-and-pound TKO over James McSweeney to win the Cage Rage British heavyweight title. Full results are after the jump.

Two very different stories emerge in these two very different Phil Baroni videos. The only thing they even have in common (besides the presence of Phil Baroni) is that in both clips we get glimpses of the story that Baroni is telling himself in order to make his life seem more livable. In the above video from MMA Rated the story is that he’s been in the wrong weight class all these years and that’s what’s been holding him back. In the one below (props to Fightlinker for digging it up), the story is that he was one of the best fighters in Pride and one of the top middleweights in the UFC for two years, despite the fact that he is poor (though he’s still a rawkstah).

What’s weird is that the second video, which is an older one but also one that offers a far more honest take, makes him seem almost likable. I know it sounds crazy, but just take a look and see for yourself.

(Does Phil Baroni even have control over what comes out of his mouth?)

Following UFC 86 Sherdog ran a story featuring comments from notable MMA fighters regarding their thoughts on the Forrest Griffin-Quinton Jackson decision. It was a pretty standard reaction piece, with the most interesting comment coming from Mac Danzig, who seemed to disparage Rampage’s overall persona.

But then Fightlinker pointed out that Phil Baroni, who had been quoted calling the decision “some bullshit”, was claiming that he never actually gave a quote to Sherdog:

First off I never gave my opinion on the fight being scored wrong to anyone esp a reporter from Sherdog. I never spoke to any media about my opinion the fight. I think its bullshit that Sherdog quoted me. First off I think the fight was a great one. Second I feel the decision was a fair one. I think Forrest is an inspiration and fought his heart out. His career is an inspiration and story book. He did a great job fought like a true champion against Rampage and his entire career. He deserves to be UFC champion and I take my hat off to him.

Now, if that were any other fighter, this claim would be pretty shocking. It’s not like Sherdog to just make up quotes. But since it’s Baroni, there is always the possibility that he a) is just screwing with them, or b) has no idea whether he did or didn’t give that quote.

Steve Cofield has information that seems to indicate it’s the latter.

(“All day! All night! You feel! My heat! Feel, feel, feel, feel my heat!”)

Big news for people who care what weight class Phil Baroni fights at: MMA Weekly reports that in light of his three consecutive losses — to Frank Shamrock, Kala Kolohe Hose, and Joey Villasenor — the New York Badass is dropping from middleweight to welterweight, and will make his 170-pound debut on July 12th at Cage Rage 27, against a British fighter to be named later. Baroni explained his decision in a post on Sherdog.net:

Im making the move because I want to be a World Champion. I dont fight for pay day’s or fame, to be on tv or chick’s. I got into MMA because I wanted to be the best fighter in the world.

This is what I feel at this point in my career I need to do. Im feel Im a better fighter than Ive shown in the ring esp as of late.

As far as the move to Welter Weight goes I feel great. Im more athletic. Im in much better condition, my hand speed is back, an I would go as far as to say Im alot quicker than I was at my previous best.

Im not going to make any predictions or promises. Ive been very humbled as of late. Ive been handed a real wake up call.

(Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson)

(Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young)

(Joey Villasenor vs. Phil Baroni)

Smith/Lawler is here and Rogers/Murphy is here. James Thompson, Phil Baroni, and Gina Carano react to their matches after the jump.

(The New York Badass struts into the abyss.)

Some visual highlights from my visit to the Prudential Center. Click photos for larger versions; hold cursor over photos for identifications. All images courtesy of BG/CagePotato.com, and may be reproduced with credit.

“Interview of the Day” honors go to Ariel Helwani at MMARated for drawing out the personality of notoriously introverted wallflower Phil Baroni. Some highlights from their chat:

Ariel Helwani: How did it feel to get back in the ring after a long layoff?
Phil Baroni: I felt like shit after about four minutes. I was out of shape (and) I didn’t train for seven months. (It’s) nobody’s fault but my own. Oh well, I made a mistake. Fuck it, I’ll take it out on Ninja. Poor Ninja.

Were you happy with your performance against Hose?
What the fuck do you think? Was I happy with my performance against Hose? What are you retarded?

Who would you like to fight after the Rua fight?
Man, I already told you, I’ll fight anybody. Anderson Silva because he is considered the man and that’s what I want to be.

Any interest in fighting Shamrock again?
Fuck yeah man. That fight is my dream rematch. That’s the fight I want to get back more than any.

You’ve trained with Kimbo Slice before, what are your thoughts on him?
He is a big, black, tough motherfucker. Could it be anymore obvious?

Any final words?
Go fuck yourselves. No I’m just kidding. I just want to thank everyone for their support. I’ve grown a lot over the years as a fighter and a person (and) my best years are yet to come. I’m still in this to be a world champion. I have a lot of fight left in me. Check me out on CBS May 31st when I will eat Ninja sushi for dinner.

Check out the rest of the article for more gems from the New York Bad Ass about his upcoming fight with Murilo Rua at CBS’s Saturday Night Fights show, steroids, injuries, and Frank Shamrock. To summarize, Baroni thinks Rua is a much tougher opponent than Hose, but it’s cool because conditioning makes champions. And clearly Baroni is going to be a cardio machine ten weeks after gassing in the first round against Hose. I mean, he’s going to make Lance Armstrong look like an overweight one-lunged asthmatic on a chain-smoking jag in Denver…

He may have gassed four rounds too early in his last fight, but Phil “New York Bad Ass” Baroni apparently did well enough to be offered a main card spot against Murilo “Ninja” Rua at EliteXC’s first CBS “Saturday Night Fights” show on May 31st. The older brother of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Murilo holds a 15-8-1 career record and was briefly EliteXC’s middleweight champion before losing the belt in his first title defense against Robbie Lawler. Coincidentally, Lawler will also be on the “Saturday Night Fights” card, facing Scott Smith in his first match since the Rua fight; he’d previously been inactive due to injuries. Kimbo Slice is still expected to headline the night against an opponent to be named later.

All we can say to Baroni is “good luck.” It’s not going to be easy to develop a pair of lungs by May, and Ninja definitely has the tools to take him out of his round 1 comfort zone. But his booking suggests that EliteXC is looking to stack their first CBS card with big personalities, and if he can stay on the treadmill until May, he might have a shot. Rua’s been knocked out in the first round before; maybe Baroni could make it happen again…

Here’s the five-round stomp-n’-wheeze from Saturday night’s ICON Sport “To Hell and Back” event, where Kala Kolohe Hose overcame Phil Baroni’s soccer kicks (and breathtaking glam-guido ring entrance) to win the middleweight title. Major props to our new blood brothers at MMAVideosOnline for the hookup.

Part 1

Part 2

Kala Kolohe Hose roasted Phil Baroni like a pig at a luau (take that, Ranallo) last night at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, defeating the “New York Bad Ass” via TKO due to punches early into the fifth round and winning ICON Sport’s middleweight title. Baroni was dominant in the first round, taking the Hawaiian brawler to the mat right away and brutalizing him with strikes from the top. But Hose managed to hang in, and Baroni appeared gassed for the rest of the fight. In the second round, after Hose was warned for striking Baroni in the back of the head, Baroni leaned over with his hands on his knees and desperately sucked air; in the third round, he came out with his hands down. Hose pounded on Baroni through the third and fourth rounds, and at one point during the fourth, Baroni actually crawled under the bottom rope to escape the onslaught; he was deducted a point. Hose put Baroni out of his misery in the fifth, dropping the NYBA with a punch and finishing him on the ground. The fight was called at the 0:26 mark.

Baroni was attended to by paramedics before being taken to a hospital. As Baroni’s manager Ken Pavia told Sherdog, “Phil’s alert, he’s responsive. It was a tough fight, but he’ll physically be OK…I guess perhaps we underestimated his ability to get in shape in a short period of time, [Baroni] didn’t have it in the gas tank for five and Kala came up and fought a great fight.” Hose, who increased his record to 6-1, called the match “the best fight of my life.” Logically, his first title defense should be against former champion Robbie Lawler as soon as Lawler can get healthy.

We hadn’t heard of any of the other 24 fighters on the “To Hell and Back” card, but if you’re interested in the results, they’re after the jump.

Check out this news segment about ICON Sport’s “To Hell and Back” event tomorrow, where Phil Baroni will take on Kala Kolohe Hose for the vacant middleweight title. To summarize…

Baroni: “Ain’t no Hawaiian guy that’s gonna beat me. Dudes wish they were me, chicks wish they were with me.”
Hose: “[unintelligible]”

By the way, is this what anchormen in Hawaii really look like? Did we just catch this guy on casual Friday? Our ears are still ringing from that shirt.

Also, here’s Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin chatting about their July title fight on Inside MMA. Quinton passes out from boredom at 2:40.

I think I know what this show needs: a live studio audience. Applause for new guests and scattered chuckles at the weak jokes would really fill those dead spaces.

Oh, and if you’re interested, here’s Chris Leben biting through a two-liter bottle of Diet Pepsi and then barfing. Good times.

Though he wasn’t the one who did the actual stomping of Wanderlei Silva’s head during the infamous PRIDE 31 Chute Boxe/Hammer House riot, Phil Baroni did jump into the ring to defend Mark Coleman against the attacking Brazilians, and Wanderlei seemed to feel that the New York Bad Ass was equally to blame for his rough treatment. The must-see video below shows Mark Coleman’s attempt at an apology after that show, which was not well received.

Fortunately, Silva seems to have buried with hatchet with Baroni, as the two are now training partners at Xtreme Couture. According to Xtreme Couture’s official blog, Silva is focusing on improving his wrestling and dealing with the limitations of the cage in preparation for his next fight:

Despite physically training here for the Chuck fight, Wanderlei didn’t train with our team outside of sparring with Shawn Tompkins. Instead he worked with his personal trainers. Wanderlei tells us that when he went to rope a dope Chuck in the first round of their fight he realized he couldn’t bounce of the cage and counter Chuck the way he could coming off the ropes in the PRIDE ring.

Training partner Phil Baroni says Wanderlei is already picking up some of Randy’s tricks after the first session. “He feels strong. He’s open minded and willing to learn. He picks things up fast.” The New York Bad Ass adds, “Once he learns to use the cage and incorporate wrestling into his game he’ll be really tough to beat in the UFC. It’s an honor to train with Wanderlei. He’s a guy I’ve always tried to emulate and I look up to him.”

Is there anything more humiliating than being Wanderlei Silva and having Phil Baroni pat you on the head and say “You’re doing such a good job! You’re picking this up so fast!” Poor bastard.

Also, there’s this bombshell:

Randy says that he and Wanderlei will continue working up until Wand’s next fight. We’re not sure if we’re allowed to say who he is fighting next. But we’re told it will happen in May and it is someone who has fought Chuck. He and the rest of the UFC’s 205lb division had best be on notice…Wanderlei tells us he’d like to rack up a couple of wins and rematch Chuck on New Year’s.

Specifically, Keith Jardine had best be on notice.

On the suggestion of reader “rheindog,” here’s Phil Baroni’s 18-second destruction of Dave Menne at UFC 39 (9/27/02). Baroni’s jackhammer-beatdown is memorable enough, but what makes this one classic is his Super-Guido celebration at the end: “I’m the best eva! I’m the man! I’m the man! I’m the man!” Unfortunately, he wasn’t — Baroni’s next four fights would result in losses at the hands of Matt Lindland, Evan Tanner (twice), and Pete Sell.

(Phil Baroni and Kala Kolohe Hose.)

Yesterday, we reported that middleweight free-agent Phil Baroni had signed a multi-year contract with EliteXC after weighing offers from six different organizations. It now looks like an immediate title-shot could have been a major factor in Baroni’s decision. ICON Sport — the prestigious Hawaii-based MMA organization owned by Pro Elite — announced that it has stripped Robbie Lawler of his middleweight championship belt because of his ongoing inability to defend his title due to injuries, and the vacant title will be on the line in a March 15th fight between Phil Baroni and top ICON contender Kala Kolohe Hose.

Baroni’s last fight was a submission loss to Frank Shamrock at Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Baroni in June of last year. He’s a veteran of both the UFC and PRIDE, and holds notable wins over Amar Suloev, Ryo Chonan, and Yuki Kondo. Hose (5-1) has won his last four fights by first-round KO/TKO, and defeated Frederic Belleton at last month’s ShoXC Elite Challenger Series. He was originally scheduled to face Lawler for the ICON title in December, but Lawler was forced to pull out, leading to the entire event being canceled.

In an article on TheFightNetwork, Lawler was quoted as saying, “I’m disappointed and upset, but I understand why this happening. In 2007, I did well when I was healthy. I accept the decision, but I promise everyone that I will return. And I will get my belt back.” On his next opponent, Baroni said: “Kala is like a younger version of me. I like him. It’s too bad Lawler was afraid to fight him, but I’m not. I’ve been fighting top guys my entire career, and I’m going to show the Hawaiian fans what a real middleweight champ looks like.”

(Heavyweight champion of the industry.)

Whether you need to take your fight career to the next level, or you’re stuck in a Thai prison for a “misunderstanding” with a local bar-girl, Ken Pavia is your man. The New York-bred, Huntington Beach-based MMA agent drives the careers of Karo Parisyan, Rob McCullough, Chris Lytle, James Thompson, Renato Sobral, Phil Baroni, and a few dozen others, and his work doesn’t stop at just arranging fights and locking down sponsorship deals. After realizing we knew next-to-nothing about what an MMA agent actually does, we decided to drop “The Pav” a line and get the lowdown on how he got his start and how he keeps on top of the competition. Also, coffee enemas.

THE EARLY DAYS

You were a sports agent for 12 years after graduating from the Miami School of Law. Did you focus on any sport in particular?
I primarily represented baseball and hockey players, though I did have a couple basketball players and a football player. I had my own firm from about ’91 through ’03 or so.

And you’ve said you retired because you got bored. Was there more to it than that?
I don’t know if it was so much boredom — I was a boutique firm competing against larger, much better capitalized corporate firms, and capitalization was ultimately a stumbling block in my ability to maintain higher-profile guys. I’d recruit a football player coming out of college, and it’d be about six to nine months before he saw any money, and he’d want a couple-hundred-thousand dollar advance. After a while I needed a break from recruiting and the daily grind.

So what did you plan on doing with the rest of your life?
Well, I took a couple years off and sat on the couch, watched sports, ate bon-bons, and went through a divorce. I was semi-retired and trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Eventually I opened up an auto auction and I met Ricco Rodriguez, who dragged me into the MMA game.

Was Ricco your first client?
He was. A mutual friend introduced us, and Ricco sat me down and said “We need mainstream agents to cross over and help the fighters get the kind of compensation that the owners are getting.” I had been a fan of the sport — I think I’d seen pretty much every UFC event — but Ricco’s the one who convinced me to get in from a business standpoint.

How did you go about finding and attracting clients in those early days?
Having the former UFC heavyweight champion was sort of a high-profile thing, and being in Huntington Beach — which was a hotbed for MMA talent at the time — I was able to find a couple of local guys with Ricco’s help. I’d take Ricco to fights, he’d meet the up-and-coming talent, and they’d pretty much come to me. I was blessed that the talent was seeking us out as opposed to the grind I had in other sports.