By Chris Howie
MMANEWS.COM Staff Writer
Former UFC middleweight Phil Baroni has seen many ups and downs throughout his career and this week he spoke with MMAFighting.com about some of the things he feels he could have changed and done differently:
“I was caught up in the lifestyle, or whatever that was, and not being a professional athlete,” reflects Phil Baroni, now 36 years old. “In my free time, to say the least, I wasn't getting better at mixed martial arts. I was f—ing getting better at everything else, like gambling and smoking, and drinking. I was getting really good at drinking and gambling. Those are two things a professional athlete shouldn't be good at. I should've been recovering and training, getting my skills better. Instead I was getting better at being a degenerate.”
“I underachieved… I didn't realize what I had in front of me. I was young and dumb. I took for granted a lot of my opportunities and my gifts. I really was a big letdown to the UFC, and to a lot of people who thought I was going to be something. I didn't live up to what I was advertised as. I f—ing blew it.”
“My wife, she works in Las Vegas. Before he died, Smokin' Joe Frazier was in there. The guy was at the bar, he was by himself,” Baroni recounts incredulously. “Smokin' Joe Frazier is by him-f—ing-self. That guy fought the Thrilla in Manila, and the whole world watched him. In his day he was an icon. And he's in the bar by himself.
“That's Joe Frazier. So where the f— is Phil Baroni going to end up? What could happen to me? I've dedicated my life to this sport, but I'm forgotten.”
To find out whats next for Baroni keep reading HERE
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