After coming out of his return to MMA in May victorious, Phil Baroni wanted to keep the ball rolling in MMA — but then he got a bare-knuckle boxing offer he couldn’t resist.
Baroni, an MMA pioneer who’s fought for the likes of the UFC, Pride FC, Strikeforce, Dream, and EliteXC, meets fellow UFC veteran Chris Leben in the co-main event of WBKFF 1 on Friday night for the light heavyweight title. The fight marks Baroni’s bare-knuckle boxing debut.
Baroni initially turned down a couple of other bare-knuckle offers, including one from English promotion BKB, in hopes of a quick turnaround in MMA after winning his return fight by knockout — his first fight since 2014.